Invited Lecture: We Are Our Memories: Autobiographical Memory in Wellness and Disability

We often take memory for granted, appreciating it only when it fails. Broad classes of memory deficits often go unrecognized despite their importance for social success. Specifically, disruptions in autobiographical memory (ABM) can impede development of self-identity, reduce psychological well-being, and result in a variety of social communication impairments which have theoretical and clinical applications for researchers and practitioners who endeavor to support children with social learning challenges. ABM is memory about the self and it is comprised of two related (but different) types of memory: semantic memory (SM) and episodic memory (EM). Semantic memory is memory for facts about one’s self; episodic memory is memory for past personally-experienced events. During episodic recall, we mentally travel back in time and re-experience the ‘what’, ‘when’, and ‘where’ of an event from a subjective first-person perspective. SM involves knowing information; EM involves remembering. Many clinical populations demonstrate deficits in ABM including, but not limited to, individuals with autism spectrum disorder, trauma (early childhood trauma and PTSD), neurogenic disorders (e.g., traumatic brain injury), and hearing loss/deafness. The purpose of this presentation is to raise awareness among speech language pathologists (SLPs) about the importance of ABM and its implications for other cognitive and social functions. In this presentation the following will be described: (a) the features and functions of ABM; (b) characteristics of ABM deficits in persons with autism, hearing loss, and adverse childhood experiences (trauma); and (c) the role of narration in developing ABM.