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Using Memory and Motivation

Understanding how our self-memory system works and how we retrieve or encode information is important because it gives a background on the self, our goals and motivations. The activities for this workbook will ask you to use your cognitive skills such as memory and goal making to get back in touch with civilian life. Although most members of the military have a successful transition back, there are those who struggle to cope and adjust to the demands and challenges of civilian life (Bowes, 2018). It is also noted from Bowes study that those involved with receiving mental health help showed that it was based on how accepting they were of their own uncomfortable thoughts, feelings and memories. This is where we recall back to the importance of memory and how it can be used to provide activities that will benefit the transition.

For the most part, transitioning back into civilian life can be easy and smooth, but for those who do struggle, understanding the self-memory-system can provide us with clues that can lead us to the answer of why and how we can help them move forward in their new life. When it comes to producing a workbook that will benefit these veterans transitioning, there are different psychological domains that need to be taken into consideration that can help the process. Some of these domains that we can use to benefit workbook activities for these veterans include the use of the self-memory system, motivation, and the remembering imagining system (RIS). The self-memory system (SMS) is critical and can be beneficial for transitioning back to civilian life because of the various domains that come within it, such as autobiographical memory. Some crucial components that are within these types of memory will help motivate and teach veterans new skills that they can use to make their transition into civilian life easier.

Before we jump into activity ideas, we need to understand how the self-memory system works and the domains that make it up; autobiographical memory and the working self. First, we can discuss the autobiographical knowledge base and the three levels of specificity within it; lifetime periods, general events and event specific knowledge (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). Each level plays an important role in determining the degree of detail that is included when a person is remembering. When remembering specifics, such as the level of life-time period, one is thinking about relationships, actions, locations, and goals for oneself. General events store memories that have a common theme, this creates schemas that help a person tell the difference between a frat party and a classroom. Event specific knowledge is more precise and focuses on details of specific events. This is common with people that have experienced traumatic events and remember the details from it, such as individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These levels of specificity are important to autobiographical memory as they are like the filing cabinets of memories and they make up the knowledge base.

The second part that makes up the self-memory system is the working self and autobiographical memory. The working self is where control processes and the working memory occur along with goals, emotions and memories. It is believed that the working self and autobiographical memory are closely related and work together. For example, Conway and Pleydell-Pearce suggest that “The goal structure of the working self is critical in both encoding and retrieval of autobiographical knowledge” (2000). They go on to explain how memories can be related to goals that we have set. Similar to memories being set by goals, the authors talk about the impact that memory has on emotions. In other words, we are able to create memories that are based on emotion. It is important to know the different parts that make up the self-memory system and how each works when recalling or encoding what types of memory.

Another important detail to bring up is the possibility of broken or false memories. Not all memories are one hundred percent accurate and the concept of “accuracy” is complicated. This is where the terms of correspondence and coherence are used to examine the accuracy of the memory. To better understand what is meant by correspondence and coherence, Conway and Loveday explain “Correspondence refers to the  case where a memory representation corresponds in some maximum way to a previously experienced event, in other words it is true to the event” (2015). In a similar fashion, coherence refers to the memory representation and its closeness with other memories, so, how true is it to that person’s personal beliefs? This is important because memories are depictions of past or close present events and this can help an individual to understand or break down what is true or not about the memory.

Broken memories are different, in terms that they mostly occur following brian damage or a psychological illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder. An example given is a PTSD patient who witnessed the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center. They had vivid flashbacks of flying above the plane before it struck the tower. Later in therapy it was revealed that person was in the crowd and watched as the plane hit the tower and experienced intense fear and guilt. It is noted that “distorted and false coherence memories can have a function of creating meaning that allow the working self to avoid negative self images and intense negative emotions” (Conway & Loveday, 2015). In other words, these false coherence memories are blocking the negative feelings and emotions that are attached to the memory itself to protect the individual.

Since talking about memory and how it can be distorted, it is important to discuss the remembering imagining system (RIS) and its role in memory recall. The RIS is a window of accessibility of memories of the recent past or near future (Conway & Loveday, 2015). For example, memories that were formed today are highly accessible in your mind, and the further you get from today, the less accessible these memories become. This is the same with future or anticipated events, the closer you are to those memories you have created, the more clear and accessible they are. The RIS and SMS work together to influence how and what we think about ourselves in past and future events. For example, if we have negative thoughts or feelings towards past experiences, it will diminish our motivation to try that experience or skill again. This will have a negative or positive impact on future focused goal setting. This is important because the recall of memories is a key part in the workbook activities and the success of the individual that is participating in.

This concept of memory being more accessible from current past events is crucial to understand in this project. Veterans that are being discharged from the military have created new schemas and their current memories to be recalled do not represent current civilian experience and life. By thinking differently about their past experiences, they can create new schemas that can be more closely related to what their future event and life experiences will hold. This will allow them to better prepare for the future and what to expect when they begin the transition back into civilian life.

One activity that will be utilized is bullet journaling. This will allow for participants to be engaged, creative, and express emotions in their own way. Bullet journaling will utilize the RIS and will help individuals with motivation by centering around current past and future events. As mentioned in the paragraph above, when veterans begin to create new schemas of their past to benefit their current future, bullet journaling will help them to keep track of goals and create new ones through the same practice. This will also benefit them by creating structure to everyday life and result in less stress and time wasted. Anna Russell quotes Ryder Carroll saying that bu-jo note taking  “helps us become mindful about how we spend our two most valuable resources in life: our time and our energy” (2019). In other words, through bullet journal note taking, these individuals will have the opportunity to create their own plans for the future through the use of new schemas created, and focus on being more mindful and prepared for what is to come.

Regardless of how you use bullet journaling, or not, as a part of this workbook, starting to add structure and organization back into your daily routine can help the process of transitioning back into civilian life be more successful. Knowing what we know about memory and how it can influence our emotions and goals is also important in moving forward and accepting the challenges that will be put in your way and making a plan to overcome them.