The Comparison of Autobiographical Memory in Monolingual and Bilingual People with HIV/AIDS

Following the results revealed by the previous research on the effect of different culture in trauma, this study has been conducted to compare the autobiographical memory between monolingual and bilingual people with HIV/AIDS. Samples consist of 60 monolingual (Healthy and Patient) and 60 bilingual (Healthy and Patient) that were selected with available sampling method and were controlled by covariance analysis method in the gender, age and intelligence variables. The subjects were evaluated through the following tools: Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Beck depression and Anxiety Inventory (BDAI), Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), and autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) and Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). The results of covariance analysis indicated that in specific memories variable, the effect of interaction group and language was significant, but there was not a significant effect on interaction in retrieval memories of episodic and semantic memory. Also healthy people retrieve more items of autobiographical memory. Comparative results with respect to language type show that bilinguals behave more specific in AMT and have better action for remembering the adult memory from the autobiographical memory in AMI. This superiority has been derived on the basis of mind flexibility and cognitive processes growth in bilinguals. In general, it has been seen that there was not any meaningful difference between the autobiographical memory of (episodic and semantic) monolingual and bilingual individuals.