AIMS
Autobiographical Interview Memory Specificity — Educational Overview
The AIMS is a research instrument measuring how personality schemas selectively distort autobiographical memory retrieval. Schema-congruent cue words are matched against ELP-controlled neutrals to index retrieval specificity. This page is an educational overview of the instrument; the AIMS is not currently administered on this platform.
Research Paradigm
In the AIMS research paradigm, respondents are assigned a Millon personality schema domain (e.g., Dependent, Avoidant, Narcissistic) and then presented with 20 cue words (10 schema-congruent, 10 ELP-matched neutral controls). For each cue, a specific autobiographical memory is elicited, dated, and localized. ELP-controlled cue matching is used so that schema activation is not confounded with word frequency or imageability.
Scoring Framework
In the published scoring tradition, each elicited memory is classified using the Williams & Broadbent (1986) taxonomy: specific, categoric, extended, semantic, or omission. The schema activation index is computed as the difference in mean specificity between schema-congruent and neutral-control cues. Higher schema activation indices in research samples indicate stronger schema-driven memory distortion.
Clinical Research Populations
- Depression & Rumination
- Personality Assessment
- Trauma & PTSD
- Cognitive-Affective Research
- Psychotherapy Process
- Schema Therapy
- Clinical Screening
Scientific Background
The overgeneral autobiographical memory effect — originally documented by Williams & Broadbent (1986) in suicidal patients — has since been replicated across depression, PTSD, and personality disorder samples. The AIMS extends the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) by adding schema-congruent cueing, turning the task into a probe of personality organization and schema-driven retrieval bias.