The role of scene recall imagery and visual imagery in the recall of emotional autobiographical memories

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2748989_(Table of contents)

A large body of evidence demonstrates that emotion impacts memory. Although visual information dominates the emotional memories, no study examined the role of visual imagery as an individual difference variable in the representation of emotional memories. This study examines the role of visual imagery and scene recall imagery skills on emotional memories. Participants (N = 115) recalled positive, negative, and neutral events in response to the cue words and then rated the phenomenology of each event. Event accounts were coded for episodic detail categories (event, place, perceptual, time, emotion-thought details). The results showed that visual and scene recall imagery skills contributed to the details of positive memories and the phenomenology of both positive and negative events. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of considering the individual differences in memory research and highlights the differences between emotional and neutral events.