Comparing Tendency to Recall Distant Memories to Rumination and Avoidance as a Cause of Overgeneral Memory

Overgeneral memory (OGM) can be defined as the tendency to recall categorical or general memories when asked to recall a specific episode. OGM is found in a variety of clinical populations but of most interest has been its relation to depression. The current leading theory on the cause of OGM is the CARFAX model (Williams, 2006). According to the model OGM is caused by a combination of three factors, rumination, avoidance, and executive control. However, one additional factor not included in the CARFAX model, the tendency to recall remote memories, has recently been shown to be a mediator of the relationship between depression and OGM.The purpose of this study was to compare this alternate factor, the tendency to recall remote memories, to both rumination and avoidance, two factors currently present in the CARFAX model. We investigated this by measuring the participants' level of rumination, avoidance, and tendency to recall remote memories and looked at their correlations to depression and OGM. Further, we looked at how rumination and avoidance correlated with the tendency to recall remote memories in the attempt to establish the tendency to recall remote memories as an independent factor. We found that the tendency to recall remote memories was a stronger predictor of OGM than either rumination or avoidance. In addition, the tendency to recall remote memories was correlated with neither rumination nor avoidance. This study provided evidence that CARFAX model in its current state is unable to account for the relationship between depression and OGM. Implications for how the CARFAX model may be revised to account for this current research are discussed.