Graduation Year
2020
Date of Submission
5-2020
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Psychology
Reader 1
Sharda Umanath
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
2020 Jessica K D Selig
Abstract
We experience Involuntary Autobiographical Memories (IAMs) when memories of our personal past come to mind without any intention of retrieval. IAMs are often emotional, but their lasting impacts on mood are unclear. The present study employed a 2 x 3 mixed experimental design. Eighty-five undergraduate students were randomly assigned to an emotion cue condition (positive, neutral, or negative) and were asked to complete a monotonous vigilance task exposing them to IAM-inducing cues. Participants reported IAMs they experienced, rating the characteristics of some memories immediately and others after a delay. IAMs’ influence on mood was assessed throughout the study. Results indicated that the phenomenological characteristics of memory appear to be independent of the emotional valence of the memory, stable, and not reconstructed over time. Repeated experience of negative or positive memories did not influence participants’ affect in a corresponding direction. Rather, all participants displayed decreasing levels of affect over the course of the study, regardless of the emotional valence of their memories. We discuss these results in terms of existing models of retrieval of memory and their implications for our understanding of the properties of IAMs and the mechanisms to regulate their impact.
Recommended Citation
Selig, Jessica, "The Influence of Involuntary Autobiographical Memories’ Emotional Valence on Ratings of Memory Characteristics and Mood" (2020). CMC Senior Theses. 2413.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2413
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
