Abstract
When using thematically related stimuli with different emotional valences, whether collaboration can bring ongoing and lasting benefits and detriments to episodic memory remains unclear. Aiming to address the issue, the current study innovatively adopted theme-relevant DRM lists with positive, neutral, and negative emotion valences as memory materials. After learning the materials, participants conducted Recall 1 and Recall 2, each containing two sequential memory tasks: the first was the item recall task to recall the studied words and the second was the source retrieval task to recall the colors of the studied words. Participants performed Recall 1 either alone or with a partner, while Recall 2 was conducted individually. Recall 1 confirmed both the detrimental (collaborative inhibition) and beneficial (error pruning and false memory reduction) effects of collaboration for item recall, which manifested the processes of strategy disruption and strategy reversion. Recall 2 reported only benefits, as the post-collaborative recall benefit was recorded in both memory tasks and the false memory reduction appeared in item recall, which provided telling evidence of the mechanisms put forward by the RSDH. In addition, these effects were not sensitive to the emotional valence of DRM lists, which indicated similar strategy disruption and reversion processes between emotional and neutral DRM lists. These results were discussed in terms of the RSDH and other possible accounts. Directions exploring more influential factors in the future and implications are put forward.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
The current data and materials are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
Abel, M., & Bäuml, K. H. (2020). Social interactions can simultaneously enhance and distort memories: Evidence from a collaborative recognition task. Cognition, 200, 104254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104254
Albert, M. C., Wulff, A. N., & Hyman, I. E. (2021). Stealing and sharing memories: Source monitoring biases following collaborative remembering. Cognition, 211(5), 104656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104656
Barber, S. J., Harris, C. B., & Rajaram, S. (2015). Why two heads apart are better than two heads together: Multiple mechanisms underlie the collaborative inhibition effect in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 41(2), 559–566. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000037
Barber, S. J., Castrellon, J. J., Opitz, P., & Mather, M. (2017). Younger and older adults’ collaborative recall of shared and unshared emotional pictures. Memory & Cognition, 45, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-017-0694-3
Bärthel, G. A., Wessel, I., Huntjens, R. J., & Verwoerd, J. (2017). Collaboration enhances later individual memory for emotional material. Memory, 25(5), 636–646. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2016.1208248
Basden, B. H., Basden, D. R., Bryner, S., & Thomas, R. L. (1997). A comparison of group and individual remembering: Does collaboration disrupt retrieval strategies? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 1176–1189. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.23.5.1176
Bays, R. B., Foley, M. A., Madlener, S., & Haorei, C. (2017). Memory accuracy and errors: The effects of collaborative encoding on long-term retention. Current Psychology, 5, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9689-2
Bell, R., Mieth, L., & Buchner, A. (2016a). Emotional memory: No source memory without old-new recognition. Emotion, 17(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000211
Bell, R., Sasse, J., Moller, M., Czernochowski, D., Mayr, S., & Buchner, A. (2016b). Event-related potentials in response to cheating and cooperation in a social dilemma game. Psychophysiology, 53(2), 216–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12561
Blumen, H. M., Rajaram, S., & Henkel, L. (2013). The applied value of collaborative memory research in aging: Behavioral and neural considerations. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 2(2), 107–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2013.03.003
Blumen, H. M., Young, K. E., & Rajaram, S. (2014). Optimizing group collaboration to improve later retention. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 3(4), 244–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2014.05.002
Brainerd, C. J., Stein, L. M., Silveira, R. A., Rohenkohl, G., & Reyna, V. F. (2008). How does negative emotion cause false memories? Psychological Science, 19, 919–925. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02177.x
Browning, C. A., Harris, C. B., Bergen, P. V., Barnier, A., & Rendell, P. G. (2018). Collaboration and prospective memory: Comparing nominal and collaborative group performance in strangers and couples. Memory, 26(9), 1206–1219. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2018.1433215
Choi, H. Y., Kensinger, E. A., & Rajaram, S. (2017). Mnemonic transmission, social contagion, and emergence of collective memory: Influence of emotional valence, group structure, and information distribution. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146(9), 1247–1265. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000327
Congleton, A. R., & Rajaram, S. (2011). The influence of learning methods on collaboration: Prior repeated retrieval enhances retrieval organization, abolishes collaborative inhibition, and promotes post-collaborative memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140(4), 535–551. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024308
Congleton, A. R., & Rajaram, S. (2014). Collaboration changes both the content and the structure of memory: Building the architecture of shared representations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(4), 1570–1584. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035974
Cooper, E., Greve, A., & Henson, R. N. (2017). Assumptions behind scoring source versus item memory: Effects of age, hippocampal lesions and mild memory problems. Cortex, 91, 297–315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.01.001
DeFraine, W. (2016). Differential effects of cognitive load on emotion: Emotion maintenance versus passive experience. Emotion, 16(4), 459–467. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000140
DiMenichi, B. C., & Tricomi, E. (2015). The power of competition: Effects of social motivation on attention, sustained physical effort, and learning. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1282. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01282
DiMenichi, B. C., & Tricomi, E. (2017). Increases in brain activity during social competition predict decreases in working memory performance and later recall. Human Brain Mapping, 38(1), 457–471. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23396
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 1149–1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
Harris, C. B., Barnier, A. J., Sutton, J., & Keil, P. G. (2014). Couples as socially distributed cognitive systems: Remembering in everyday social and material contexts. Memory Studies, 7(3), 285–297. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698014530619
Harris, C. B., Barnier, A. J., Sutton, J., Keil, P. G., & Dixon, R. A. (2017). “Going episodic”: Collaborative inhibition and facilitation when long-married couples remember together. Memory, 25(8), 1148–1159. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2016.1274405
Harris, C. B., Barnier, A. J., Sutton, J., & Savage, G. (2019). Features of successful and unsuccessful collaborative memory conversations in long-married couples. Topics in Cognitive Science, 11, 668–686. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12350
Hayama, H. R., Vilberg, K. L., & Rugg, M. D. (2012). Overlap between the neural correlates of cued recall and source memory: Evidence for a generic recollection Network? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 24, 1127–1137. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00202
Howe, M. L., & Malone, C. (2011). Mood-congruent true and false memory: Effects of depression. Memory, 19, 192–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2010.544073
Hyman, I. E., Jr., Cardwell, B. A., & Roy, R. A. (2013). Multiple causes of collaborative inhibition in memory for categorised word lists. Memory, 21(7), 875–890. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2013.769058
IBM Corp. (2013). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
Johnson, L., & Mackay, D. (2019). Relations between emotion, memory encoding, and time perception. Cognition & Emotion, 33(2), 185–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1435506
Ke, C., Nie, A., & Zhang, R. (2017). The modulation of recall task on collaborative inhibition and error pruning: The influence of emotional valence and level of processing. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 49(6), 733–744. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1041.2017.00733
Kensinger, E. A., Choi, H. Y., Murray, B. D., & Rajaram, S. (2016). How social interactions affect emotional memory accuracy: Evidence from collaborative retrieval and social contagion paradigms. Memory & Cognition, 44(5), 706–716. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-016-0597-8
Kim, S., Kark, S., Daley, R., Alger, S., Rebouças, D., Kensinger, E., & Payne, J. (2019). Interactive effects of stress reactivity and rapid eye movement sleep theta activity on emotional memory formation. Hippocampus, 4, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.23138
Kragel, J. E., & Polyn, S. M. (2016). Decoding episodic retrieval processes: Frontoparietal and medial temporal lobe contributions to free recall. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 28, 125–139. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00881
Li, M [Minye]., & Nie, A. (2021). Discrepancies in episodic memory: Different patterns of age stereotypes in item and source memory. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01937-8
Li, M [Mengsi]., & Nie, A. (2021). Do we prioritise memory for cheaters? Rebuttal evidence from old/new effects in episodic memory. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 33(3), 247–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2021.1894157
Liu, T., Xing, M., & Bai, X. (2020). Part-list cues hinder familiarity but not recollection in item recognition: Behavioral and event-related potential evidence. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 561899. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.561899
Liu, Z., Liu, T., & Li, Y. (2021). How does social competition affect true and false recognition? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28(1), 292–303. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-020-01807-7
Macri, A., Pavard, A., & Versace, R. (2018). The beneficial effect of contextual emotion on memory: The role of integration. Cognition & Emotion, 32(6), 1355–1361. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2017.1387101
Maki, R. H., Weigold, A., & Arrelano, A. (2008). False memory for associated word lists in individuals and collaborating groups. Memory & Cognition, 36, 598–603. https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.36.3.598
Marion, S. B., & Thorley, C. (2016). A meta-analytic review of collaborative inhibition and postcollaborative memory: Testing the predictions of the retrieval strategy disruption hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 142(11), 1141–1164. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000071
Maswood, R., Rasmussen, A., & Rajaram, S. (2019). Collaborative remembering of emotional autobiographical memories: Implications for emotion regulation and collective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(1), 65–79. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000468
Maswood, R., Luhmann, C. C., & Rajaram, S. (2021). Persistence of false memories and emergence of collective false memory: Collaborative recall of DRM word lists. Memory, Online. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2021.1928222
Minor, G., & Herzmann, G. (2019). Effects of negative emotion on neural correlates of item and source memory during encoding and retrieval. Brain Research, 1718, 32–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2019.05.001
Mitchell, K. J., & Johnson, M. K. (2009). Source monitoring 15 years later: What have we learned from fMRI about the neural mechanisms of source memory? Psychological Bulletin, 135(4), 638–677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015849
Nie, A. (2018). Facial recall: Feature-conjunction effects in source retrieval versus item recognition. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 125(2), 369–386. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031512517751725
Nie, A., & Jiang, G. (2021). Does stimulus emotionality influence associative memory? Insights from Directed Forgetting. Current Psychology, 40(10), 4957–4974. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00449-w
Nie, A., & Li, M. (2021). Professional discrepancies of doctors and lawyers in episodic memory: Modulations of professional morality and warning. PsyCh Journal, 10(5), 707–731. https://doi.org/10.1002/pchj.457
Nie, A., Ke, C., Li, M., & Guo, B. (2019). Disrupters as well as monitors: Roles of others during and after collaborative remembering in DRM procedure. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 15(4), 276–289. https://doi.org/10.5709/acp-0275-1
Nie, A., Ke, C., Guo, B., Li, M., & Xiao, Y. (2021). Collaborative memory for categorized lists: Ongoing and lasting effects are sensitive to episodic memory tasks. Current Psychology, Online. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01684-w
Numbers, K. T., Meade, M. L., & Perga, V. A. (2014). The influences of partner accuracy and partner memory ability on social false memories. Memory & Cognition, 42(8), 1225–1238. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-014-0443-9
Palombo, D. J., Te, A. A., Checknita, K. J., & Madan, C. R. (2021). Exploring the facets of emotional episodic memory: Remembering “what”, “when”, and “which.” Psychological Science, 32(7), 1104–1114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797621991548
Peltokorpi, V., & Hood, A. C. (2019). Communication in theory and research on transactive memory systems: A literature review. Topics in Cognitive Science, 11(4), 644–667. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12359
Pereira-Pasarin, L. P., & Rajaram, S. (2011). Study repetition and divided attention: Effects of encoding manipulations on collaborative inhibition in group recall. Memory & Cognition, 39, 968–976. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-011-0087-y
Rajan, V., & Bell, M. A. (2015). Developmental changes in fact and source recall: Contributions from executive function and brain electrical activity. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 12, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2014.10.001
Rajaram, S. (2011). Collaboration both hurts and helps memory: A cognitive perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(2), 76–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721411403251
Rajaram, S., & Pereira-Pasarin, L. P. (2010). Collaborative memory: Cognitive research and theory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(6), 649–663. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610388763
Reysen, M. B., Bliss, H., & Baker, M. A. (2018). Survival processing eliminates collaborative inhibition. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(6), 1340–1347. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2017.1318408
Rimé, B. (2009). Emotion elicits the social sharing of emotion: Theory and empirical review. Emotion Review, 1(1), 60–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073908097189
Rossi-Arnaud, C., Spataro, P., Bhatia, D., & Cestari, V. (2019). Collaborative remembering reduces suggestibility: A study with the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale. Memory, 27(5), 603–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2018.1542004
Rossi-Arnaud, C., Spataro, P., Bhatia, D., Doricchi, F., Mastroberardino, S., & Cestari, V. (2020). Long-lasting positive effects of collaborative remembering on false assents to misleading questions. Acta Psychologica, 203, 102986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102986
Saraiva, M., Garrido, M. V., & Albuquerque, P. B. (2021). Emergence and transmission of misinformation in the context of social interactions. Memory & Cognition, 49, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-020-01081-x
Selwood, A., Harris, C. B., Barnier, A. J., & Sutton, J. (2020). Effects of collaboration on the qualities of autobiographical recall in strangers, friends, and siblings: Both remembering partner and communication processes matter. Memory, 28(3), 399–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2020.1727521
Sjolund, L. A., Erdman, M., & Kelly, J. W. (2014). Collaborative inhibition in spatial memory retrieval. Memory & Cognition, 42(6), 876–885. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-014-0407-0
Symeonidou, N., & Kuhlmann, B. G. (2022). Better memory for emotional sources? A systematic evaluation of source valence and arousal in source memory. Cognition and Emotion, 36(2), 300–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2021.2008323
Takahashi, M. (2007). Does collaborative remembering reduce false memories? British Journal of Psychology, 98(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712606X101628
Thorley, C., & Dewhurst, S. A. (2007). Collaborative false recall in the DRM procedure: Effects of group size and group pressure. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 19(6), 867–881. https://doi.org/10.1080/09541440600872068
Ventura-Bort, C., Low, A., Wendt, J., Molto, J., Poy, R., Dolcos, F., Hamm, A., & Weymar, M. (2016). Binding neutral information to emotional contexts: Brain dynamics of long-term recognition memory. Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, 16(2), 234–247. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-015-0385-0
Wang, B., & Sun, B. (2017). Post-encoding emotional arousal enhances consolidation of item memory, but not reality-monitoring source memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70(3), 461–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1134604
Weigold, A., Russel, E., & Natera, S. (2014). Correction of false memory for associated word lists by collaborating groups. American Journal of Psychology, 127(2), 183–190. https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.127.2.0183
Wessel, I., Zandstra, A. R. E., Hengeveld, H. M., & Moulds, M. L. (2015). Collaborative recall of details of an emotional film. Memory, 23(3), 437–444. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2014.895384
Whillock, S. R., Meade, M. L., Hutchison, K. A., & Tsosie, M. D. (2020). Collaborative inhibition in same-age and mixed-age dyads. Psychology and Aging, 35(7), 963–973. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000490
Wissman, K. T. (2019). Investigation of collaborative inhibition for key-term definitions. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(1), 182–193. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3606
Wissman, K. T., & Rawson, K. A. (2015). Why does collaborative retrieval improve memory? Enhanced relational and item-specific processing. Journal of Memory & Language, 84, 75–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2015.05.003
Yang, N., Waddington, G., Adams, R., & Han, J. (2018). Translation, cultural adaption, and test-retest reliability of Chinese versions of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory and Waterloo Footedness Questionnaire. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 23(3), 255–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2017.1357728
Yaron-Antar, A., & Nachson, I. (2006). Collaborative remembering of emotional events: The case of Rabin’s assassination. Memory, 14(1), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658210444000502
Ye, J., Nie, A., & Liu, S. (2019). How do word frequency and memory task influence directed forgetting: An ERP study. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 146, 157–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.10.005
Yick, Y. Y., & Wilding, E. L. (2014). Electrophysiological correlates of processes supporting memory for faces. Brain and Cognition, 90, 50–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2014.06.003
Yonelinas, A. P., Aly, M., Wang, W. C., & Koen, J. D. (2010). Recollection and familiarity: Examining controversial assumptions and new directions. Hippocampus, 20, 1178–1194. https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.20864
Zhang, W., Gross, J., & Hayne, H. (2017). The effect of mood on false memory for emotional DRM word lists. Cognition & Emotion, 31(3), 526–537. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1138930
Zhou, W., Nie, A., Xiao, Y., Liu, S., & Deng, C. (2020). Is color source retrieval sensitive to emotion? Electrophysiological evidence from old/new effects. Acta Psychologica, 210, 103156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103156
Funding
This work is supported by the Projects of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Education (Grant No. 21YJA190005), of Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LY21C090002), Zhejiang Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences Circles (Grant No. 2021N78), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31300831), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science & Brain-Machine Integration, Zhejiang University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
All procedures performed regarding human participants were following the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Consent to participate
Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the study.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in financial, personal, or relationships with other people or organizations.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Nie, A., Li, M., Li, M. et al. Together we lose or gain: Ongoing and enduring impacts of collaboration in episodic memory of emotional DRM lists. Curr Psychol 42, 27965–27982 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03940-z
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03940-z