Finding positive meaning in memories of negative events adaptively updates memory

Abstract

Finding positive meaning in past negative memories is associated with enhanced mental health. Yet it remains unclear whether it leads to updates in the memory representation itself. Since memory can be labile after retrieval, this leaves the potential for modification whenever its reactivated. Across four experiments, we show that positively reinterpreting negative memories adaptively updates them, leading to the re-emergence of positivity at future retrieval. Focusing on the positive aspects after negative recall leads to enhanced positive emotion and changes in memory content during recollection one week later, remaining even after two months. Consistent with a reactivation-induced reconsolidation account, memory updating occurs only after a reminder and twenty four hours, but not a one hour delay. Multi-session fMRI showed adaptive updates are reflected in greater hippocampal and ventral striatal pattern dissimilarity across retrievals. This research highlights the mechanisms by which updating of maladaptive memories occurs through a positive emotion-focused strategy.

The causal role of the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortices on emotion regulation of social feedback

“…Participants in the rVLPFC-activated group showed more positive memory regarding social feedback and gave more positive evaluations to those feedback senders compared with the sham TMS group. This reappraisal-induced mnemonic effect (i.e., the memory becomes more positive after reappraisal) is consistent with a recent study demonstrating that reappraisal adaptively updates negative memory with more positive content, and that retrieval of the reappraised memory was accompanied by enhanced rVLPFC activation (Speer et al, 2021). More intriguingly, we demonstrated that this mnemonic effect mediated the relationship between emotion regulation and social evaluation, even though the mediating patterns of the two measurements (i.e., subjective and objective) of emotion regulation are not identical.…”

“…H. Kim & Hamann, 2012). Recently, a series of experiments have been done to investigate how emotion regulation changes memory content per se, demonstrating that negative autobiographical memories were updated with positive content after reappraisal (Speer, Ibrahim, Schiller, & Delgado, 2021). Following this finding, we predict that participants' memory of social feedback will become more positive after reappraisal.…”

“…Some evidence has accumulated on how emotion regulation affects memory, but most of the existing research focused on whether emotion regulation reduced or enhanced the accuracy of emotional memories (Dillon, Ritchey, Johnson, & LaBar, 2007; S. H. Kim & Hamann, 2012). Recently, a series of experiments have been done to investigate how emotion regulation changes memory content per se, demonstrating that negative autobiographical memories were updated with positive content after reappraisal (Speer, Ibrahim, Schiller, & Delgado, 2021). Following this finding, we predict that participants' memory of social feedback will become more positive after reappraisal.…”

Randomized Trial on the Effects of a Group EMDR Intervention on Narrative Complexity and Specificity of Autobiographical Memories: A Path Analytic and Supervised Machine-Learning Study

“…Indeed, it has been proposed that a single underlying disintegrated event in memory networks could underpin the psychopathology of emotional distress [33] and that, even in the presence of symptoms recovery, when facing trauma-related cues again, they may act as new triggers that may re-precipitate symptoms. Strikingly, very recently, using multi-session functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) [34,35], it has been shown that actual updating and re-integration of maladaptive memories occurred only through a positive emotion-focused strategy [36]. Indeed, the re-emergence of positive meaning and emotions at future retrieval occurred only if individuals focused on the positive aspects after an initial negative recall.…”

“…The Clinical Global Impression (CGI; [47]) change score at termination was significantly associated with SUD final scores at the first session [48,49]. In addition, considering that actual updating and re-integration of maladaptive memories occurred only through a positive emotion-focused strategy [36], the PC of EMDR may be helpful in evaluating treatment efficacy. In fact, standard EMDR protocol assesses the validity of cognition (VoC) scale, which measures the believability of a suggested PC.…”