Research

Research Interests

Research Projects:

Retrieval from Autobiographical Memory

One problem in the area of autobiographical memory is that there is no consensus on how autobiographical memories are retrieved. For many years, autobiographical memory researchers have employed cue-word method to study autobiographical memories. For instance, a participant is presented with the word “book” and is required to provide a personal memory related to books. For the most part, these researchers assume that people always rely on a search strategy (i.e., generative retrieval) when confronted with word cues or phrase-length cues. In contrast, psychologists who study involuntary memories (i.e., autobiographical memories that come to mind without a conscious retrieval attempt) focus on automatic and effortless retrieval of specific autobiographical- event memories (i.e., direct retrieval). In brief, both generative and direct retrieval have been reported in autobiographical memory literature. However, the extent to which direct and generative retrieval are common in recalling an autobiographical memory remains an empirical question.

My research first provided a reliable technique for studying how common each retrieval strategy is and for understanding retrieval time differences obtained in cue-word experiments. Next, I extended the cue-word study to include personally relevant cues because outside of the lab we retrieve autobiographical memories in response to real-life stimuli (e.g., people and objects) present in our surroundings rather than in response to random words. My other motivation for collecting these data was to assess how well the current autobiographical memory models explain the relationship between cue content and the retrieval of autobiographical memories. The data showed that direct retrieval is the default strategy in recalling autobiographical memories. This research suggests that autobiographical memories typically are not retrieved by reconstructing event representations from a hierarchically structured memory system and implies a serious revision for models proposing such types of structural and processing assumptions.

One core issue in relation to the prevalence of spontaneously retrieved memories is why they don’t occur all the time. In other words, why doesn’t our everyday environment that is filled with familiar coffee mugs, clothes, houses, streets, and bridges constantly trigger memories? To answer this question, I investigated whether repeated exposure to a cue decreases or increases the frequency of direct retrieval. Results demonstrated that the probability of direct retrieval decreased as the number of cue repetitions increased. A significant rate of decline in direct retrieval by cue repetition implies that inhibitory processes also influence retrieval. This highlights the idea that our retrieval processes are flexible to ensure optimal use of stored information and limited attention. I am planning to extend this research to understand how inhibitory processes work to ensure this adaptability.

Emotion and Autobiographical Memory

My research about emotion and autobiographical memory primarily focuses on understanding how retrieval processes are operating in emotionally disturbed populations. We are conducting two studies on the relationship between emotion and memory retrieval in emotionally disturbed population. One study is about how deficits in retrieving specific memories in depressed populations is related to reduced in future goal specificity. Another research is testing CAR-FAX model in obssessive compulsive disorder. 

Intergenerational Tranmission of Trauma

We conducted a research project, funded by Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Institution (TUBITAK) for 30 months, on traumatic memories. This project significantly contributed to current debate in traumatic memory integration literature. In the TUBITAK project, we applied an event-cueing method to see whether centrality of traumatic memories for people who experienced them or their fragmented nature would predict post-traumatic stress symptoms. Some parts of the this research were published in 2 highly prestigious journals (Anxiety, Stress & Health, Stress & Health). In addition to cognitive representations of traumatic events, we conducted 3 different studies on how traumatic experiences would be transmitted across generations. These three studies were investigating trauma from a conceptually different perspectives. One research was about studying how 1999 Marmara Earthquake survivors transmitted their memories to their off-springs who were born after the Marmara Earthquake. This research was awarded by Egeden Trauma Institution as the best graduate thesis on childhood trauma. In this study, trauma transmission was conceptualized as how parents’ trauma was observed as a behavioural problem in the children. We also conducted a research about how parents’ childhood traumatic experiences would be related to development of maladaptive cognitive schemas across generations. This research was published in a very prestigious journal (i.e., Child Abuse & Neglect). More recently, we are working on the role of memory specificity in the transmission of early maladaptive schemas. In addition, we investigated the role of fathers in this transmission process. Our study about how traumatic parenting behaviours would predict emotional abuse in romantic relationships of adolescents was also published in a high quality journal (i.e., Current Psychology). That study brings us how traumatic exposure is transmitted to future relationships.