Symposia
Cognitive Science/ Cognitive Processes
Maria Folgado-Alufre, Other (she/her/hers)
University of Valencia
Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Marta Miragall, Ph.D.
Assistant professor
Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia; CIBERObn Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Maitena Pierantonelli, PhD Candidate (she/her/hers)
PhD Candidate
Polibienestar Research Institute, University of Valencia, Spain; Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Valencia, Spain
Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Desirée Colombo, PhD (she/her/hers)
PhD
Department of Basic Psychology, Clinic and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I, Spain.
Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Rocío Herrero, PhD (she/her/hers)
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology and Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Spain; CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), Instituto Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Rosa Banos, PhD (she/her/hers)
Full Professor
Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Valencia, Spain; CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), Instituto Carlos III, Spain.
Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Positive autobiographical memories (PAM) have been found to enhance well-being and increase emotional intensity. Conversely, recalling overgeneral (vs. specific) autobiographical memories is one of the biases strongly implicated on psychopathology (e.g., depressive symptomatology -DS-) and lower well-being. Savoring -defined as the awareness of positive experiences and the use of positive emotion regulation strategies to enhance positive feelings- has stood out as a potential mediational mechanism in the relationship between PAM and mental health outcomes. The present work had two objectives: (1) to examine the role of savoring in the effect of specificity of PAM on well-being and DS, using a cross-sectional study with a sample of individuals with DS (study 1), and 2) to test the effect of an intervention (PESCAR) based on training specificity and savoring of PAM on well-being and DS (study 2). In study 1, 348 participants (64.1% female) aged between 18 and 45 (M = 26.85; SD = 6.73) filled the “Autobiographical Memory Test” (AMT, Williams & Broadbent, 1986), the “Savoring Beliefs Inventory” (SBI, Bryant, 2003), the “Mental Health Continuum Short Form-14” (Keyes, 2009) and the “Patient Health Questionaire” (PHQ-9, Kroenke et al., 2001). Two simple mediation analyses showed significant indirect effects, in which higher specificity of PAM (vs. general memories) led to higher levels of savoring, which led to higher well-being and lower DS. All the variables included in the model explained 24.6 % of variance in well-being and 18.35% in DS. The direct effects of specificity of PAM on well-being and DS were also significant (but explained a low variance -0.3% in well-being and 1.14% in DS). In study 2 we developed a brief, ICT-based and self-administered intervention with a psychoeducation session and 14 short 5-minute daily practice sessions (PESCAR). The training consists of recalling more specifically PAM and to enhance positive emotions through savoring strategies. 40 participants are being recruited and randomly assigned to PESCAR and a control group. The work is currently in progress and being tested in a subclinical sample with DS. According to literature and the findings of study 1, we expect that participants in PESCAR training (vs. control group) will have more specific PAM, a reduction in DS and an increase in well-being after the intervention. These studies highlight the importance of including savoring strategies in interventions aimed at enhancing the specificity of positive memories for relieving DS and improving well-being.