Autobiographical Memory in Bipolar Disorder and Its Link to Neuropsychological Functioning

The aim of this study was to examine the specificity of autobiographical memory (AM) in bipolar disorder (BD) and to investigate the association between AM and neuropsychological functions.

Twenty bipolar patients and 22 matched healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. AM was assessed with an extended version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) including rejection cue words. A neuropsychological test battery was used to examine verbal memory, executive functions, and attention.

Across both groups, the number of specific memories in the AMT was significantly smaller in response to rejection cue words and positive cue words than in response to negative cue words. Participants with BD and HCs did not differ significantly in neuropsychological measures. Across both groups, scores of verbal memory, executive functions, and attention were significantly correlated with specificity of retrieved memories.

Although our clinical sample consisted of clinically stable outpatients, 6 out of 20 patients were not rated as euthymic but as mildly depressed. All BD patients were medicated.

Contrary to previous results, patients with BD did not differ in the number of specific memories compared to an HC group. Our findings suggest that neuropsychological functioning is associated with AMT specificity. Further research is required to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms which may influence the ease of memory retrieval.