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Memory and the self in ageing

衰老中的记忆和自我

基本信息

批准号：
ES/K000918/1
负责人：
Clare Rathbone
金额：
$ 17.75万
依托单位：
Oxford Brookes University
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2012 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FK000918%2F1
关键词：
Memory self ageing

项目摘要

What is this research about?Our ability to remember the past is important for many reasons. Every day we use our memory to remember where things are and how things work. But our memory also plays a vital role in helping us remember who we are. Our memories enable us to have a sense of self: we are what we remember. This raises the important question of what happens to our sense of self when we cannot remember our past. I am a psychologist with particular interest in this fundamental link between autobiographical memory (memory for life events) and the self. This research will aim to find out how memory supports the self in both normal ageing and in dementia. The goal is to investigate ways to improve quality of life for older adults (both with and without dementia) by understanding how memories support the self.Why is this important?Improving well-being in our ageing population is a fundamentally important issue for the social sciences. The cost of dementia is estimated at £17.03 billion per year (Dementia UK, 2007), and the Alzheimer's Society predicts that by 2021 there will be more than 1 million people in the UK living with dementia. It is therefore a critical priority to develop cost-effective approaches that will improve well-being in dementia. Psychologists have shown that the way we remember the past tends to change with age. Older adults are typically better at remembering facts about events (e.g. we went on holiday to Spain) than specific details (e.g. what it felt like getting off the plane in the sunshine), whereas younger adults are good at remembering both types of information. Although we have identified such age-related changes in memory, there has been little research on the impact that these changes might have on our sense of self and our well-being. Moreover, previous research has shown that memory problems in dementia can lead to a loss of identity, and that this loss reduces well-being.How will this research be organised?Project 1: How perceptions of the self change in healthy ageing. This project will explore how the ways people describe themselves (e.g. I am happy; I am a father) change with age. This will have important implications for understanding identity in ageing and will produce a set of normed data to inform projects 2 and 3.Project 2: How do memories support the self in healthy ageing versus dementia. This project will use a self and memory task (the IAM Task) to investigate how memories are used to support information about the self in adults of different ages, and in older adults with dementia. The task uses identities (e.g. I am a father) as memory cues (e.g. the day my daughter was born). The IAM Task is an innovative tool that I developed during my PhD and has been used to understand the link between self and memory in healthy adults, and in people with amnesia and schizophrenia.Project 3: How to bolster well-being in healthy ageing by using self-supporting memories. This project will compare memories linked with positive identity cues (e.g. I am kind) and ordinary events (e.g. memories about shopping). It is predicted that thinking about memories associated with positive identities will improve well-being and mood, compared to thinking about ordinary memories.What impact will this research have?The main impact of this research will be improving well-being in older adults by developing our understanding of how memory affects self and well-being in normal ageing and dementia. Results will be shared with academics and clinicians who develop and deliver psychological treatments for dementia. Thus, results will be fed directly to those who can use them to develop new and improved treatments. This research will also be used to promote social science research to the general public. I will present results at a number of public events (e.g. British Science Festival) and via a project website.

这项研究的目的是什么？我们记住过去的能力很重要，原因有很多。我们每天都用记忆来记住事物在哪里以及事物如何运作。但我们的记忆在帮助我们记住自己是谁方面也起着至关重要的作用。我们的记忆使我们有一种自我意识：我们就是我们所记得的人。这就提出了一个重要的问题：当我们记不起自己的过去时，我们的自我意识会发生什么变化。我是一名心理学家，对自传体记忆（生活事件的记忆）和自我之间的这种基本联系特别感兴趣。这项研究旨在找出记忆如何在正常衰老和痴呆症中支持自我。目标是通过了解记忆如何支持自我来研究改善老年人（无论是否患有痴呆症）生活质量的方法。为什么这很重要？改善老龄化人口的福祉是社会科学的一个根本性重要问题。据估计，每年因痴呆症造成的损失为 170.3 亿英镑（Dementia UK，2007 年），阿尔茨海默氏症协会预测，到 2021 年，英国将有超过 100 万人患有痴呆症。因此，开发具有成本效益的方法来改善痴呆症患者的福祉是当务之急。心理学家表明，我们记忆过去的方式往往会随着年龄的增长而改变。老年人通常更擅长记住有关事件的事实（例如，我们去西班牙度假），而不是具体细节（例如，在阳光下下飞机的感觉），而年轻人则擅长记住这两种类型的信息。尽管我们已经发现了这种与年龄相关的记忆变化，但很少有人研究这些变化可能对我们的自我意识和幸福感产生的影响。此外，之前的研究表明，痴呆症患者的记忆问题会导致自我认同的丧失，而这种丧失会降低幸福感。这项研究将如何组织？项目 1：健康老龄化过程中自我认知如何变化。该项目将探讨人们描述自己的方式（例如我很高兴；我是一名父亲）如何随着年龄的增长而变化。这对于理解衰老过程中的身份具有重要意义，并将产生一组标准化数据来为项目 2 和 3 提供信息。项目 2：记忆如何在健康老龄化和痴呆症中支持自我。该项目将使用自我和记忆任务（IAM 任务）来研究如何使用记忆来支持不同年龄的成年人和患有痴呆症的老年人的自我信息。该任务使用身份（例如我是父亲）作为记忆线索（例如我女儿出生的那一天）。 IAM 任务是我在攻读博士学位期间开发的一个创新工具，已用于了解健康成年人以及健忘症和精神分裂症患者的自我与记忆之间的联系。项目 3：如何通过使用自我支持记忆来增强健康老龄化的福祉。该项目将比较与积极身份线索相关的记忆（例如我很友善）和普通事件（例如有关购物的记忆）。据预测，与思考普通记忆相比，思考与积极身份相关的记忆将改善幸福感和情绪。这项研究将产生什么影响？这项研究的主要影响将是通过加深我们对记忆如何影响正常衰老和痴呆症中的自我和幸福感的理解来改善老年人的幸福感。结果将与开发和提供痴呆症心理治疗的学者和临床医生分享。因此，结果将直接提供给那些可以利用它们来开发新的和改进的治疗方法的人。这项研究还将用于向公众推广社会科学研究。我将在一些公共活动（例如英国科学节）和通过项目网站展示结果。