How thinking about what could have been affects how we feel about what was

Abstract

Episodic counterfactual thoughts (CFT) and autobiographical memories (AM) involve the reactivation and recombination of episodic memory components into mental simulations. Upon reactivation, memories become labile and prone to modification. Thus, reactivating AM in the context of mentally generating CFT may provide an opportunity for editing processes to modify the content of the original memory. To examine this idea, this paper reports the results of two studies that investigated the effect of reactivating negative and positive AM in the context of either imagining a better (i.e. upward CFT) or a worse (i.e. downward CFT) alternative to an experienced event, as opposed to attentively retrieving the memory without mental modification (i.e. remembering) or no reactivation. Our results suggest that attentive remembering was the best strategy to both reduce the negative affect associated with negative AM, and to prevent the decay of positive affect associated with positive AM. In addition, reactivating positive, but not negative, AM with or without CFT modification reduces the perceived arousal of the original memory over time. Finally, reactivating negative AM in a downward CFT or an attentive remembering condition increases the perceived detail of the original memory over time.

Finding positive meaning in memories of negative events adaptively updates memory

“…For instance, in associative memory, extinction after reactivating conditioned fear memories can reduce physiological arousal at future retrieval in humans 24 and freezing behavior in rodents 21 through a reconsolidation process; in procedural memory, a new list of words or methodological sequence can intrude something previously learned; 25,26 and in episodic memory, listening to others' recollections or viewing others' photographs can color one's own memory for the same event 22,27,28 . This can occur even when the new information is incorrect (e.g., misinformation effect) 29 or is a reconceptualization of what could have been rather than what was (e.g., counterfactual thinking) 30 . Our results expand this literature to naturalistic events from one's personal past.…”

Simulating other people changes the self.

“…Research from cognitive psychology demonstrates that considering new information can reshape preexisting knowledge. Reading false information can overwrite our knowledge of basic facts (Fazio, Barber, Rajaram, Ornstein, & Marsh, 2013), hearing other people describe their memories can alter one's own (Coman & Hirst, 2015;Coman et al, 2009;Cuc, Koppel, & Hirst, 2007), and entertaining alternatives to the past (e.g., counterfactual thinking) can modify our memory of it (De Brigard, Hanna, St. Jacques, & Schacter, 2018). Episodic and semantic knowledge are both susceptible to misinformation (Loftus, 2005;Schacter, 1999), and can change to include postevent information.…”

Episodic Counterfactual Thinking

“…When reactivation occurs, episodic autobiographical memories can become labile and prone to modification. Imagining alternative ways in which past personal events could have occurred seems to affect the reactivated content, and although doing so may induce false recollection (Gerlach, Dornblaser, & Schacter, 2014), it may also help to mollify the emotion of negative memories as well as protect the valence of positive ones (De Brigard, Hanna, St Jacques, & Schacter, 2018).…”