Better memory for intrinsic versus extrinsic details underlies the enhanced recollective experience of negative events

Mihaylova, Mariela; Vuilleumier, Patrik; Rimmele, Ulrike

doi:10.1101/lm.049734.119

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Since retrieval of contextual memory is an inherent part of recollective experiences (Perfect et al, 1996), it is possible that strengthened memory for negative words that are presented on white backgrounds is particularly expressed in familiarity-based recognition due to the absence of contextual information. On the other hand, current theory (Yonelinas & Ritchey, 2015) and previous studies (Ritchey et al, 2019; Sharot et al, 2004) suggest that enhanced recollection of emotional versus neutral material is not so much driven by retrieval of contextual memory, but more so by enhanced item-emotion associations through involvement of the amygdala (see Mihaylova et al, 2019; Rimmele et al, 2012 for research into emotional memory recollection and differential roles for various kinds of contextual memory). As negative items were rated with higher arousal and lower valence than neutral items in our study, one would still expect a particularly strong effect on recollection and not necessarily familiarity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Time-dependent emotional memory transformation: Divergent pathways of item memory and contextual dependency.

Cox¹,

Meeter²,

Kindt³

et al. 2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Emotional memory can persist strikingly long, but it is believed that not all its elements are protected against the fading effects of time. So far, studies of emotional episodic memory have mostly investigated retention up to 24h postencoding and revealed that central emotional features (items) are usually strengthened, while contextual binding of the event is reduced. However, even though it is known for neutral memories that central versus contextual elements evolve differently with longer passage of time, the time-dependent evolution of emotional memories remains unclear. Hypothetically, compared to neutral memories, emotional item memory becomes increasingly stronger, accompanied by accelerated decay of-already fragile-links with their original encoding contexts, resulting in progressive reductions in contextual dependency. Here, we tested these predictions in a large-scale study. Participants encoded emotional and neutral episodes, and were assessed 30 minutes (N = 40), 1 day (N = 40), 1 week (N = 39), or 2 weeks (N = 39) later on item memory, contextual dependency, and subjective quality of memory. The results show that, with the passage of time, emotional memories were indeed characterized by increasingly stronger item memory and weaker contextual dependency. Interestingly, analyses of the subjective quality of memories revealed that stronger memory for emotional items with time was expressed in familiarity, whereas increasingly smaller contextual dependency for emotional episodes was reflected in recollection. Together, these findings uncover the timedependent transformation of emotional episodic memories, thereby shedding light on the ways healthy and maladaptive human memories may develop.

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