Effect of Emotional Content on Memory Characteristics: Emotional Valence, Emotional Intensity, and Individual Emotions

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to examine the relationships between the emotional valence and emotional intensity of autobiographical memories and the phenomenological characteristics of memories in the context of individual emotions and memory types. Seven hundred and sixty-four students (514 female, 250 male) from Dokuz Eylul University participated in the study. Participants were asked to recall an childhood memory, a self-defining memory, or a romantic relationship memory. After thinking about the memory they remember, they were requested to fill out the Autobiographical Memory Characteristics Questionnaire and a scale for intensity of individual emotions. Regression analyses showed that emotional intensity of the memories predicted the sensory details, rehearsal, and preoccupation with emotions. In moderated-mediation analyses, mediating effects for emotional intensity were detected between individual emotions and memory characteristics, except for the negative self-esteem emotions. Among these analyses, a moderating effect of memory types was detected only for the relationships between hostile emotions and anxiety-related emotions and the memory characteristics through the mediation of emotional intensity. While the intensity of singular emotions showed stronger relationship with emotional valence, the main variable that predicted memory characteristics overall was the emotional intensity.