Physiological, psychological and behavioral consequences of activating autobiographical memories

Activating an autobiographical memory for a specific childhood event can have immediate and robust physiological, psychological, and behavioral consequences. The target behavior was public speaking, a vital skill about which many people are socially anxious. In this study, it was suggested to subjects that they had a positive public speaking experience in early childhood; they then thought about and retrieved details of this true childhood memory. Compared to a control condition in which a different suggestion was made, subjects in the treatment group exhibited superior public speaking performance on the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Further, physiological measures of cortisol and a self-report measure of anxiety (STAI-S) reflected a significantly smaller increase in anxiety from before to after the TSST in the treatment than control condition. Activating autobiographical memory for an event increases the accessibility of that memory and consequently affects performance on related behaviors.

Research Highlights
► Superior public speaking behavior assessed by the Trier Social Stress Test.
► Reduced physiological measures of cortisol.
► Reduced self-report measure of public speaking anxiety assessed by the STAI-S.