Reliving emotional personal memories: Affective biases linked to personality and sex-related differences.

Abstract

Although available evidence suggests that the emotional valence and recollective properties of autobiographical memories (AMs) may be influenced by personality- and sex-related differences, overall these relationships remain poorly understood. The present study investigated these issues by comparing the effect of general personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism) and specific traits linked to emotion regulation (ER) strategies (reappraisal and suppression) on the retrieval of emotional AMs and on the associated postretrieval emotional states, in men and women. First, extraversion predicted recollection of positive AMs in both men and women, whereas neuroticism predicted the proportion of negative AMs in men and the frequency of rehearsing negative AMs in women. Second, reappraisal predicted positive AMs in men, and suppression predicted negative AMs in women. Third, while reliving of positive memories had an overall indirect effect on postretrieval positive mood through extraversion, reliving of negative AMs had a direct effect on postretrieval negative mood, which was linked to inefficient engagement of suppression in women. Our findings suggest that personality traits associated with positive affect predict recollection of positive AMs and maintenance of a positive mood, whereas personality traits associated with negative affect, along with differential engagement of habitual ER strategies in men and women, predict sex-related differences in the recollection and experiencing of negative AMs. These findings provide insight into the factors that influence affective biases in reliving AMs, and into their possible link to sex-related differences in the susceptibility to affective disorders.

Genome-wide association study of the five-factor model of personality in young Korean women

“…61 Other studies also demonstrated an association between personality traits and memory. 62 For example, Carlson and Levy 63 found an association between Extraversion and short-term memory, whereas Cuttler and Graf 64 reported a link between Conscientiousness and prospective memory. Memory, personality, behavior and academic performance are common areas of study for psychologists.…”

Neural Correlates of Emotional Memories: A Review of Evidence From Brain Imaging Studies

“…While there is evidence that personality traits such as neuroticism and extraversion may induce opposing biases in the memory emotional information (Rusting, 1999;Denkova et al, 2012), and that sex-related differences in memory could be linked to dissociable engagement of emotion regulation strategies (Denkova et al, 2012), the neural circuitry mediating these effects remains poorly investigated.…”

“…While factors associated with positive affect, such as extraversion (Costa & McCrae, 1980;John & Srivastava, 1999), are associated with positive memories (Rusting, 1999), personality traits associated with negative affect, such as neuroticism, are linked to negative memories (Mayo, 1983;Ruiz-Caballero & Bermudez, 1995). We recently identified such relationships in the case of retrieving personal memories for real-life events (Denkova et al, 2012). Namely, we showed that extraversion contributed to remembering more positive personal experiences and to maintaining a positive state, whereas neuroticism predicted the phenomenological characteristics of negative autobiographical memories; also, only the latter was modulated by sex-related differences.…”

“…In this context, of particular importance along with investigation of individual differences that affect the impact of emotion on memory, such as sex-and age-related, is investigation of personality-related differences linked to general (extraversion, neuroticism) and specific (emotion regulation) traits affecting emotion processing. For instance, understanding the role of habitual use of emotion regulation strategies necessary to efficiently deal with emotionally challenging events/situations, may be critical in preventing the development of affective disorders by reversing possible negative biases in memory for emotional events (Denkova, Dolcos, & Dolcos, 2012). Recent evidence suggests that clinical negative affective bias in affective disorders may be linked to excessive AMY involvement and altered control of emotion in the PFC regions (Johnstone, van Reekum, Urry, Kalin, & Davidson, 2007;Mayberg, 1997).…”

Estilos fenomenológicos de evocación de recuerdos autobiográficos en individuos con depresión mayor

“…La MA opera con representaciones de episodios de vida, los recuerdos autobiográ-ficos (RsAs), los cuales posibilitan la reconstrucción, en el presente, de experiencias vitales previas. Los RsAs significativos, refieren a eventos de relevancia personal para los individuos (Denkova, Dolcos & Dolcos, 2012;Schaefer & Philippot, 2005). Así, se los ha caracterizado como recuerdos relativos a situaciones que marcan un antes y un después, experiencias de aprendizaje fuertemente vinculadas con la propia identidad o eventos que conforman hitos en el curso vital (Singer & Salovey, 1993;Sutin, Costa, Wethington & Eaton, 2010).…”