Comparisons of memories for traumatic events and other experiences

Byrne, Christina A.; Hyman, Ira E.; Scott, Kaia L.

doi:10.1002/acp.837

Cited by 103 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

100

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…These findings extend previous studies by showing that event valence affects not only phenomenal characteristics associated with remembering specific past events (see Byrne et al, 2001;D'Argembeau et al, 2003;Destun Phenomenal characteristics 17 & Kuiper, 1999), but also phenomenal characteristics associated with projecting oneself into the future in order to mentally pre-experience possible happenings. There is substantial evidence indicating that most people (with the exception of depressed people) tend to preferentially process information that conveys a positive view of themselves (Baumeister, 1998;Taylor & Brown, 1988).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Remembering is also affected by the purposes, goals, or motives (hopes, fears, needs, desires, and so forth) of the individual (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000;Johnson & Sherman, 1990) and these generally tend to cause memories of positive experiences to contain more sensorial and contextual details than memories of negative experiences (Byrne, Hyman, & Scott, 2001; Phenomenal characteristics 5 D'Argembeau, Comblain, & Van der Linden, 2003;Destun & Kuiper, 1999), probably because most people are motivated to create and maintain a positive self-concept (Baumeister, 1998;Taylor & Brown, 1988). If imagining the future is constrained by past experiences as well as by individual purposes, goals, and motives, then factors that influence the qualitative aspects of memory, such as the valence of an event, should also affect representations of possible future events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Phenomenal characteristics associated with projecting oneself back into the past and forward into the future: Influence of valence and temporal distance

D’Argembeau¹,

Linden

2004

Consciousness and Cognition

665

650

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As humans, we frequently engage in mental time travel, reliving past experiences and imagining possible future events. This study examined whether similar factors affect the subjective experience associated with remembering the past and imagining the future.Participants mentally "re-experienced" or "pre-experienced" positive and negative events that differed in their temporal distance from the present (close versus distant), and then rated the phenomenal characteristics (i.e., sensorial, contextual, and emotional details) associated with their representations. For both past and future, representations of positive events were associated with a greater feeling of re-experiencing (or pre-experiencing) than representations of negative events. In addition, representations of temporally close events (both past and future) contained more sensorial and contextual details, and generated a stronger feeling of reexperiencing (or pre-experiencing) than representations of temporally distant events. It is suggested that the way we both remember our past and imagine our future is constrained by our current goals. One of the most fascinating achievements of the human mind is its ability to engage in mental time travel in order to mentally relive past experiences (Suddendorf & Busby, 2003;Tulving, 2002;Wheeler, Stuss, & Tulving, 1997). When mentally traveling back to the past, we may remember an event in considerable detail, for instance by "seeing" in our mind the location where this past experience took place as well as the persons and objects that were present, by remembering the unfolding of the event as well as what we felt or thought when experiencing it, and so forth. Such detailed sensorial and contextual (spatio-temporal) information is an essential aspect of memory because it provides the rememberer with a subjective "sense of self" in the past (Klein, 2001) and enables him or her to distinguish memories of events that have been personally experienced in the past from other kinds of representations such as dreams, imagined events, or beliefs (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993). According to Tulving's most recent characterization of episodic memory (Tulving, 2002;Wheeler et al., 1997), the hallmark of episodic retrieval is what he terms "autonoetic" (self-knowing) consciousness, which is "the kind of consciousness that mediates an individual's awareness of his or her existence and identity in subjective time extending from the personal past through the present to the personal future" (Tulving, 1985, p. 1). Autonoetic consciousness is thought to allow not only the subjective experience associated with reexperiencing a past experience but also the ability to project oneself forward in time to mentally "pre-experience" an event (Wheeler et al., 1997). However, although many researchers have showed increased interest in the subjective experience of remembering, by investigating either states of awareness (e.g., Gardiner, 1988;Tulving, 1985) or phenomenal characteristics (e.g., Johnson, Foley, Suengas, & Raye, ...

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenomenal characteristics associated with projecting oneself back into the past and forward into the future: Influence of valence and temporal distance

D’Argembeau¹,

Linden

2004

Consciousness and Cognition

665

650

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Likewise, some evidence suggests that there are inaccuracies in memory for emotions related to autobiographical events (Barclay & Wellman, 1986;Levine, 1997;Thomas & Diener, 1990). Evidence also suggests that emotional valence and intensity influence the recall of autobiographical memories (Barnier et al, 2004;Brewer, 1988;Byrne, Hyman, & Scott, 2001;Christianson, 1992;Linton, 1986;Wagenaar, 1986). For these reasons, we examined such factors in light of the expected group difference in memory for Week 1 events.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Directed forgetting of autobiographical events

Joslyn

Oakes

2005

Mem Cogn

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two diary experiments demonstrated directed forgetting (DF) of autobiographical events, previously observed only for less complex memory items. Using a 2-week diary paradigm, we compared recall between a group of participants who were directed to forget Week 1 memories (forget group) and a group who did not receive a forget instruction (remember group). In Experiment 1, the forget group remembered fewer items from Week 1 than did the remember group. The effect was observed for negative and positive valence events, as well as for high and low emotional intensity events. The effect was replicated in Experiment 2 despite a memorable holiday (Valentine's Day) that occurred during the manipulation week. Forget participants remembered fewer low emotional intensity items in Experiment 2. We conclude that intentional forgetting is a plausible explanation for the loss of some autobiographical memories.

show abstract

“…Furthermore, memories of positive events are generally reported with more clarity and vividness than memories of negative events, and they tend to involve more phenomenological reliving, sensory imagery, and a greater sense of mentally traveling back in time (e.g., Andersson et al, 2006;Berntsen & Thomsen, 2005;see Bohn & Berntsen, 2007, for a review). Finally, positive memories are shared more frequently in conversations than negative or traumatic memories (Bernt sen & Thomsen, 2005;Bohn & Berntsen, 2007;Byrne, Hyman, & Scott, 2001;Collins et al, 2007), suggesting that positive memories also serve important functions for social bonding.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%