Emotion and Memory

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the role that emotion plays in memory. The chapter opens by considering how emotion affects how one learns word lists. We then look at the problem of eyewitness memory (it is notoriously inaccurate). We consider the emotional component of flashbulb memories, and the role that emotion plays in false memories and recovered memories. We then examine mood dependence—the relationship between the mood of the person and the mood of the material at learning and at testing.

Learning Exercises for This Chapter

8.1.1 Questions and Important Concepts for This Chapter

This section will help you review your learning for this chapter. It is composed of numbered questions (which are also the headings of this chapter). Concepts (important terms and phrases, labeled with letters) appear below most questions. These questions and concepts serve as an outline and summary of this chapter. If you have mastered the material in this chapter, you will be able to answer all the questions and define all the concepts. You should be able to answer each question in about 50 to 100 words and define each concept in about 20 to 50 words. Questions and concepts are best understood in the context of the entire chapter, and the information for answering them is always available within this chapter.

• 1. Might emotion play a role in memory?

• 2. What factors might influence memory for words in a list?

  • (a) Negative emotional words

  • (b) Emotional intensity

  • (c) Emotional uniformity

  • (d) Common of frequent words

  • (e) Imagery

  • (f) List length

  • (g) Serial position effect

  • (h) Exposure time

  • (i) Elapsed time

  • (j) Recognition

  • (k) Recall

• 3. At what point in the learning process does emotion influence memory?

  • (a) Encoding stage

  • (b) Storage stage

  • (c) Retrieval stage

• 4. How can emotion help us understand flashbulb memories?

  • (a) Flashbulb memory

• 5. What role does emotion play in eyewitness memory?

  • (a) Eyewitnesses

  • (b) Eyewitnesses are not very reliable

  • (c) Suggestible

  • (d) Weapon focus

  • (e) Reconstructed memory

• 6. False memory or recovered memory?

  • (a) Recovered memories

  • (b) False memories

  • (c) Childhood trauma issues

  • (d) Metamemory

  • (e) Interpretation of fact

• 7. Does memory depend on the context?

  • (a) Context dependent

  • (b) Emotion at learning

  • (c) Emotion at testing

  • (d) Emotion of the material

  • (e) Rumination

  • (f) Cognitive theory of depression

  • (g) Mania

• 8. Is there such a thing as approximate memory?

  • (a) Approximate memory

• 9. Past-life memories?

  • (a) Past lives

  • (b) Regression therapy

  • (c) The avoidance of malfeasance

8.1.2 Experiential Learning Element 8.1: Betrayal Trauma

This ELE deals with the issue of recovered/false memoires. It suggests that you consult and describe the work of a psychologist who believes in and works with memories caused by betrayal.

• 1. I mentioned in the text that there are both false memories and true recovered memories. Here is a page dealing with Jennifer Freyd’s theory of betrayal trauma, which talks about the ways in which people forget (and possibly remember) traumas: http://pages.uoregon.edu/dynamic/jjf/defineBT.html

• 2. Visit the site and write a one-page report on her theory. (250 words).

• 3. Note that Dr. Freyd has provided many links so that if you are interested you can dig deeper into this topic.

8.1.3 Experiential Learning Element 8.2: Eyewitness Memory

This is an ELE on the accuracy of eyewitness memory. You can complete the ELE yourself by following the instructions below or find a volunteer to help you. You, or your volunteer, will be asked to look at a very detailed picture and then tested on your memory for it.

• 1. Do not go to the next page (or scroll down) unless you are ready to begin serving as the volunteer yourself in this eyewitness ELE. If you want to ask someone else to volunteer, remember our three ethical concerns (full information, right to quit, confidentiality).

• 2. On the next page is a city scene. Imagine it is a crime scene just before a crime takes place. You can look at is for 30 seconds. Then flip the page over and do not return to it. (No cheating!)

• 3. After you have flipped the page, answer several questions about the scene that are on the following page.

• 4. Got your timer ready? 30 seconds to look at the picture. Go! (Fig. 8.2).

Fig. 8.2

Intersection on a city street. (Source: Unsplash, 2014)

Now answer these questions as best you can. Some of them are fill-in-the-blanks and some are multiple-choice.

• 1. How many cars were stopped at the intersection? _____

• 2. How many skyscrapers were there in the background? ___

• 3. What color was the light in the intersection in the distance? ___

• 4. How many bikes were visible crossing the road in the distance? ___

• 5. Where was the old man with the cane walking? ___

• 6. How many taxis were there in the foreground of the picture? ___

• 7. Where was the black taxi? Was it the first, second, third, or fourth car back from the intersection in the foreground? ___

• 8. What artist was being advertised higher up on the post on the right? ___

• 9. On the diamond-shaped yellow road sign on the right, which way were the arrows pointing? ___

• 10. How many people in the foreground were actually wearing the hoods of their hoodies? __

When you have answered all the questions, check your answers using the next page.

• 5. Here are the correct answers.

  • 1. How many cars were stopped at the intersection? 1.

  • 2. How many skyscrapers were there in the background? 2.

  • 3. What color was the traffic light in the intersection in the distance? Red.

  • 4. How many bikes were visible crossing the road at the traffic light in the distance? None (suggestive question).

  • 5. Where was the old man with the cane walking? There was no old man (suggestive question).

  • 6. How many taxis were there in the foreground of the picture? 3.

  • 7. Where was the black taxi? Was it the first, second, third, or fourth car back from the intersection in the foreground? Nowhere: the black car was not a taxi (suggestive question).

  • 8. What artist was being advertised on the post on the right? Georgia O’Keeffe.

  • 9. On the diamond-shaped yellow road sign, which way were the arrows pointing? Up and down.

  • 10. How many people in the foreground were actually wearing the hoods of their hoodies? 2.

You could earn ten points by remembering things correctly. These are shown above.

There were several misleading questions that might have led you to “remember” things that were not there. These are marked above. Did any of them work on your “memories”?

Write up to two pages (500 words) talking about your memory in this task. Discuss the two main concepts of eyewitness accuracy and false memories. Remember that human beings are not recording devices, and that is not reasonable to expect you to remember so many complex details about material viewed only for some seconds.

8.1.4 Experiential Learning Element 8.3: Cognitive Depression

This ELE deals with mood-dependent memory, as discussed in Sect. 8.7. It fleshes out Beck’s cognitive theory of depression.

• 1. This chapter mentioned Beck’s cognitive theory of depression. Beck developed a scale to use when assessing how depressed people are. You can find an old version of the scale here: https://www.ismanet.org/doctoryourspirit/pdfs/Beck-Depression-Inventory-BDI.pdf

• 2. At the end, it explains how to score the scale if you want to try it out. I will caution you that this is a real psychological test (even if it is an older version). Please do not administer it to others and interpret it for them. If you, yourself, get a high score, you might consider talking to a counselor about it. I have found, in the past, that people who get higher scores are quite aware of how they are feeling—they are just not sure what to do about it.

• 3. What I would like you to focus on, however, is what are called “negative cognitions” or “negative ways of thinking.” The scale is full of them. Discuss these in terms of the way we described context-dependent memory in this chapter. (About 250 words).

8.1.5 Experiential Learning Element 8.4: Earliest Childhood Memories

Can you remember things that happened when you were very young? People often think they can! This ELE examines childhood memories.

• 1. People often wonder how far back their memories reliably go. This ELE examines your early childhood memories. Think as far back as you can. What is the earliest memory you have? Write the memory down, even though you will not actually submit it as part of the assignment. Write it so you can answer questions about it later.

• 2. You may want to consult this brief article on the topic from the journal Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/longing-nostalgia/201504/what-your-oldest-memories-reveal-about-you (Batcho, 2015).

• 3. Now I would like you to think about and answer three questions, taking about a half page for each one (about 125 words):

  • How old were you in your earliest memory? (For example, you can say “I was about five” or you can be more specific.) How does this age agree (or disagree) with the age in the Batcho article?

  • Do you have any way to confirm that this is a real memory? Remember, it may feel very real to you but might still involve suggestion and reconstruction (as discussed in this chapter). Our metamemory can sometimes mislead us.

  • Have you discussed this memory with others since it was first formed? How might this have influenced the memory?

  • Did this memory have any emotional content? How might this influence your recall?

8.1.6 Mind-Benders for This Chapter

Each Mind-Bender asks you a question that you cannot answer simply by reading this chapter. You have to think beyond this chapter. Mind-Benders are prompts for long essay answers of 500 or more words. Even if you are not asked to write the full essay, think of each of these in terms of how you might answer them.

• 1. In eyewitness memory research, university researchers often use scenarios or pictures and test people’s memory for detail. Why might this not be a realistic test of what actual eyewitnesses can remember?

• 2. In terms of information about eyewitnesses offered in this chapter, discuss the Rashomon effect. To help you, consult this 2016 article by Robert Anderson: https://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/3068/3208

• 3. Some psychologists are not all that sold on the unique status of flashbulb memories, suggesting that we can have other vivid memories and that all memories become less accurate (or less detailed) as time elapses. Discuss this issue using the 2011 article by Bridget Law in Monitor, the professional journal of the American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/09/memories

• 4. Suppose you are a practicing psychologist and a first-time client who has memories of being kidnapped as a child arrives to see you. These memories have been officially investigated and proved wrong. What can you do to help this client? Should you push the client to deny the memories? Or not? (This is actually quite a troubling question, and you have to consider the client’s well-being before deciding what you want to do.)