Prime time news: The influence of primed positive and negative emotion on susceptibility to false memories

Abstract

We examined the relation between emotion and susceptibility to misinformation using a novel paradigm, the ambiguous stimuli affective priming (ASAP) paradigm. Participants (N = 88) viewed ambiguous neutral images primed either at encoding or retrieval to be interpreted as either highly positive or negative (or neutral/not primed). After viewing the images, they either were asked misleading or non-leading questions. Following a delay, memory accuracy for the original images was assessed. Results indicated that any emotional priming at encoding led to a higher susceptibility to misinformation relative to priming at recall. In particular, inducing a negative interpretation of the image at encoding led to an increased susceptibility of false memories for major misinformation (an entire object not actually present in the scene). In contrast, this pattern was reversed when priming was used at recall; a negative reinterpretation of the image decreased memory distortion relative to unprimed images. These findings suggest that, with precise experimental control, the experience of emotion at event encoding, in particular, is implicated in false memory susceptibility.

Emotionally negative pictures enhance gist memory.

“…This pattern highlights the different roles that gist and verbatim memory play for different types of valence, which is apparently more gist-based for negative valence and more verbatim-based for positive valence, a general pattern than has also been noted by others in word list experiments (Brainerd et al, 2008; Gomes, Brainerd, & Stein, 2013). This pattern is also consistent with previous research demonstrating that whereas negative information promotes false memory, positive information may actually protect against it (e.g., Porter, Spencer, & Birt, 2003; Porter, ten Brinke, Riley, & Baker, 2014). …”

Emotion and false memory: The context–content paradox.

“…Porter, Ten Brinke, Riley, and Baker (2014) manipulated valence by presenting ambiguous pictures, which were then described to subjects using positively- or negatively-valenced terminology. For instance, a picture depicting passengers boarding an airplane was described as headed toward a sunny vacation spot or a dismal war zone.…”

“…Van Damme and Smets (2014) modified Porter, Ten Brinke, et al’s (2014) design by manipulating the arousal as well as the valence of study pictures. They administered both high- and low-arousal positive and negative pictures, and they also administered medium- and low-arousal neutral pictures.…”

Methods of Studying False Memory

“…At both interviews, our results indicated that children were more likely to falsely recall the negative than the neutral event. Subsequently, studies using suggestion-based false memory paradigms or other paradigms have shown similar findings in children as well in adults (e.g., Howe, Candel, Otgaar, Malone, & Wimmer, 2010;Porter, ten Brinke, Riley, & Baker, 2014).…”