Time Travel Through Breathing: study on the effect of interoception and contemplative practices on autobiographical and public memory retrieval

Autobiographical memory (AM) is the multidimensional memory system that stores and processes the unique mental representations of past experiences. Accordingly, it is an essential component of the Self which in turn is also based on bodily-self consciousness processes, such as the perception of bodily signals (i.e. interoception). Several studies showed that contemplative practices, such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness, which affect interoception, can also influence AM recollection. In our study we aim to observe how interoception and contemplative practices affect variables related to AM retrieval. We evaluated 39 healthy participants (25 females) with a modified version of the Autobiographical Memory Test, in which a ‘Public’ condition was also included. Furthermore, we tested the interoceptive sensibility of participants using the Body Perception Questionnaire, and investigated the frequency of attendance to different contemplative practices. Our results showed that healthy individuals remembered autobiographical memories as more specific, emotionally intense and vivid compared to public memories. Moreover, a significant interaction was found, so that participants who did not frequently practice these contemplative activities recollected public memories less vividly. Our results align with the literature, confirming the differences between autobiographical and public memories in regard to different aspects related to the retrieval of memories. Also, we demonstrated that contemplative activities affect memory recollection processes. These important results contribute to the literature and expand on the role of bodily-related processes and activities on autobiographical memories. Finally, we discuss the possible beneficial effect of contemplative practices as therapeutic treatments for patients with memory disorders.