Schedule of Events | Symposia

Sketchpad Series

Influence of expertise on episodic autobiographical memory performance during demanding outdoor adventure experiences

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Lexi Golestani¹ (lexi.golestani@utah.edu), Cory Inman¹; ¹University of Utah

Episodic autobiographical memory (EAM) is essential for constructing a cohesive identity and foundational schema by enabling individuals to reflect on and integrate past experiences in order to respond and adapt to future challenges. This ability is especially critical for those navigating dynamic, high-risk environments as they necessitate high-consequence decision-making during demanding experiences, which relies on schema-based recall. While stress (demand), emotion, arousal, and expertise have been studied individually in relation to memory performance, their complex interactive effects on memory performance in real-world settings remain underexplored. We use the well-established Autobiographical Interview (Levine, 2002) measure to investigate how expertise influences EAM performance during whitewater boating, which is considered a high-risk, complex recreational activity that often requires managing cognitive, physical, and emotional demands simultaneously. The Autobiographical Interview offers a window into hippocampal-dependent memory processes by quantifying episodic and semantic details from recalled experiences using validated manual coding and Natural Language Processing (NLP). We measure risk perception, sensation seeking, alexithymia, and personality as potential covariates influencing memory differences between experts and novices. Preliminary analyses suggest that expert whitewater boaters encode and retain more episodic details than novices during demanding whitewater experiences, which aligns with theories of cognitive load and schema reliance. This suggests that higher levels of proficiency, specialization and familiarity facilitate more effective EAM encoding and retrieval by leveraging pre-existing cognitive frameworks during moments of intense demand (stress). Future work looks to integrate stress biomarkers and neuroimaging to further elucidate the role of the hippocampus in EAM during demanding outdoor adventure experiences.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic