Examining Slowed Forgetting in Recognition Memory for Emotional and Neutral Pictures Público
Shepardson, Susan (Summer 2021)
Published
Abstract
Memory for emotional events (episodic emotional memory) is often stronger and more persistent compared to memory for neutral events. Although many studies have found slower forgetting for emotional vs. neutral stimuli, some key questions remain unanswered, in part because of limited relevant experimental data, methodological issues with prior studies, and a strong focus on negative emotional stimuli. Because few studies have examined forgetting for positive stimuli, it remains unclear whether forgetting is slower for positive stimuli relative to neutral stimuli. Another key question is the extent to which differential forgetting rates for negative and positive stimuli are reflected in two primary components of episodic memory, recollection (memory for contextual information) and familiarity (memory strength, independent of recollection). We examined these questions in an online experiment that assessed memory for negative, positive, and neutral pictures at three delay intervals, 10 minutes, 24 hours, and 1 week. We assessed forgetting for overall recognition performance and for estimates of recollection and familiarity across these three retention intervals for negative, positive, and neutral pictures. Forgetting for negative pictures (vs. neutral pictures) was slower for overall recognition performance and forgetting for negative pictures was also slower for both recollection and familiarity. In contrast, forgetting was not slower for positive pictures and the forgetting rates for positive and neutral pictures were broadly similar. In summary, the current study contributed to the understanding of forgetting for emotional episodic memory, finding that slowed forgetting was valence-dependent, and that slowed forgetting for negative pictures is reflected in both the recollection and familiarity components of recognition memory. These findings suggest that current theories of forgetting in emotional episodic memory, which have focused primarily on negative emotional stimuli and on recollection-based forgetting effects, need to take into account the role of negative and positive valence and effects on familiarity processes.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….…1
2. Methods …………………..…………………………………………………………….…9
2.1 Participants ……………………………………………………………………………9
2.2 Stimuli ………..……………………………......….…………………………………10
2.2.1 Stimuli norming ………..…………………………….……………………10
2.2.2 Stimulus selection ………..…………………………….…….……………10
2.3 Experimental tasks and study design ………..……………….…………….…..……11
2.3.1 Encoding phase ………..……………………..……….…..….……………12
2.3.2 Delay phase ………..……………………..……….…..….………..………13
2.3.3 Retrieval phase ………..……………………..………..….………..………14
2.3.4 Data analysis ………..……..………...……..….……..….………..………15
3. Results …………………………………………………….…………………….…….…17
3.1 Overall picture recognition ………………………………………………….………18
3.2 Analysis of recollection and familiarity ………………………………………..……25
3.2.1 Recollection ………….....……………………………....…………………26
3.2.2 Familiarity …………....…………………………….………………...……30
3.3 Recognition response criteria ………….…………………………………….………32
4. Discussion ……………………………………………….……………………....…….…33
5. References ……………………………………………….……………………....…….…40
6. Appendix …………………………….………………….……………………....…….…47
6.1 Response times ………………………………………………………………………47
About this Master's Thesis
| School | |
|---|---|
| Department | |
| Subfield / Discipline | |
| Degree | |
| Submission | |
| Language |
|
| Research Field | |
| Palavra-chave | |
| Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor | |
| Committee Members |
Primary PDF
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Examining Slowed Forgetting in Recognition Memory for Emotional and Neutral Pictures () | 2021-06-30 13:34:08 -0400 |
|
Supplemental Files
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
|---|