Better memory for intrinsic versus extrinsic details underlies the enhanced recollective experience of negative events
- 1Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
- 2Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
- 3Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
- 4Neurology Department, University Hospital Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
- 5Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
- Corresponding author: ulrike.rimmele{at}unige.ch
Abstract
Why we remember emotional events with an increased subjective sense of remembering (SSR) is unclear. SSR for neutral events is linked to memory for various kinds of details. Using the Remember/Know paradigm, participants provided written justifications of their Remember responses indicating what they specifically recollected about a negative or neutral photo seen during encoding. Crucially, Remember responses for negative photos were more often linked to memory for details of the stimuli (intrinsic details) versus details related to external associations (extrinsic details) or emotional reaction at encoding, suggesting that memory for intrinsic details underlies the enhanced SSR of negative stimuli.
Footnotes
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Article is online at http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.049734.119.
- Received March 15, 2019.
- Accepted August 13, 2019.
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