Abstract
The present study examined whether positive or negative valence affects the amount of detail remembered about a public event, and whether positive or negative valence alters other memory characteristics (consistency, vividness, and confidence). Memory for the final game of the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees 2004 American League playoff series was assessed in individuals who found the event highly positive, highly negative, or neutral (i.e., Red Sox fans, Yankees fans, and fans of neither team). Valence did not affect the number of personal details recalled, but it did affect memory consistency (greatest for the negative-event group) and memory overconfidence (apparent only in the positive-event group). These results indicate that positive events can be remembered with the same types of distortions that have been shown previously for negative events. Moreover, it appears that, in comparison with negative valence, positive valence sometimes can be associated with decreased memory consistency and increased memory overconfidence.
Article PDF
References
Baker-Ward, L. E., Eaton, K. L., &Banks, J. B. (2005). Young soccer players’ reports of a tournament win or loss: Different emotions, different narratives.Journal of Cognition & Development,6, 507–527.
Berntsen, D. (2002). Tunnel memories for autobiographical events: Central details are remembered more frequently from shocking than from happy experiences.Memory & Cognition,30, 1010–1020.
Berntsen, D., &Thomsen, D. K. (2005). Personal memories for remote historical events: Accuracy and clarity of flashbulb memories related to World War II.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,134, 242–257.
Bless, H., Clore, G. L., Schwarz, N., Golisano, V., Rabe, C., &Wölk, M. (1996). Mood and the use of scripts: Does a happy mood really lead to mindlessness?Journal of Personality & Social Psychology,71, 665–679.
Bless, H., &Schwarz, N. (1999). Sufficient and necessary conditions in dual process models: The case of mood and information processing. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.),Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 423–440). New York: Guilford.
Bohannon, J. N. (1988). Flashbulb memories for the space shuttle disaster: A tale of two theories.Cognition,29, 179–196.
Brown, R., &Kulik, J. (1977). Flashbulb memories.Cognition,5, 73–99.
Buchanan, T. W., &Adolphs, R. (2002). The role of the human amygdala in emotional modulation of long-term declarative memory. In S. C. Moore & M. Oaksford (Eds.),Emotional cognition: From brain to behaviour (pp. 9–34). London: John Benjamins.
Budson, A. E., Simons, J. S., Sullivan, A. L., Beier, J. S., Solomon, P. R., Scinto, L. F., et al. (2004). Memory and emotions for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, patients with mild cognitive impairment, and healthy older adults.Neuropsychology,18, 315–327.
Christianson, S.-Å. (1989). Flashbulb memories: Special, but not so special.Memory & Cognition,17, 435–443.
Cohen, G., Conway, M. A., &Maylor, E. A. (1994). Flashbulb memories in older adults.Psychology & Aging,9, 454–463.
D’Argembeau, A., Comblain, C., &Van der Linden, M. (2003). Phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories for positive, negative, and neutral events.Applied Cognitive Psychology,17, 281–294.
Deffenbacher, K. A. (1983). The influence of arousal on reliability of testimony. In S. M. A. Lloyd-Bostock & B. R. Clifford (Eds.),Evaluating witness evidence: Recent psychological research and new perspectives (pp. 235–251). Chichester, U.K.: Wiley.
Dewhurst, S. A., &Parry, L. A. (2000). Emotionality, distinctiveness, and recollective experience.European Journal of Cognitive Psychology,12, 541–551.
Easterbrook, J. A. (1959). The effect of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of behavior.Psychological Review,66, 183–201.
Hamann, S. (2001). Cognitive and neural mechanisms of emotional memory.Trends in Cognitive Sciences,5, 394–400.
Kensinger, E. A., &Corkin, S. (2004). The effects of emotional content and aging on false memories.Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience,4, 1–9.
Kensinger, E. A., Garoff-Eaton, R. J., &Schacter, D. L. (2006). Memory for specific visual details can be enhanced by negative arousing content.Journal of Memory & Language,54, 99–112.
Kensinger, E. A., Krendl, A. C., &Corkin, S. (2006). Memories of an emotional and a nonemotional event: Effects of aging and delay interval.Experimental Aging Research,32, 23–45.
Kensinger, E. A., &Schacter, D. L. (2006). Reality monitoring and memory distortion: Effects of negative, arousing content.Memory & Cognition,34, 251–260.
Levine, L. J., &Bluck, S. (2004). Painting with broad strokes: Happiness and the malleability of event memory.Cognition & Emotion,18, 559–574.
Ochsner, K. N. (2000). Are affective events richly recollected or simply familiar? The experience and process of recognizing feelings past.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,129, 242–261.
Paradis, C. M., Solomon, L. Z., Florer, F., &Thompson, T. (2004). Flashbulb memories of personal events of 9/11 and the day after for a sample of New York City residents.Psychological Reports,95, 304–310.
Pesta, B. J., Murphy, M. D., &Sanders, R. E. (2001). Are emotionally charged lures immune to false memory?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,27, 328–338.
Pezdek, K. (2003). Event memory and autobiographical memory for the events of September 11, 2001.Applied Cognitive Psychology,17, 1033–1045.
Pillemer, D. B. (1984). Flashbulb memories of the assassination attempt on President Reagan.Cognition,16, 63–80.
Schaefer, A., &Philippot, P. (2005). Selective effects of emotion on the phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories.Memory,13, 148–160.
Schmolck, H., Buffalo, E. A., &Squire, L. R. (2000). Memory distortions develop over time: Recollections of the O.J. Simpson trial verdict after 15 and 32 months.Psychological Science,11, 39–45.
Scott, D., &Ponsoda, V. (1996). The role of positive and negative affect in flashbulb memory.Psychological Reports,79, 467–473.
Smith, M. C., Bibi, U., &Sheard, D. E. (2003). Evidence for the differential impact of time and emotion on personal and event memories for September 11, 2001.Applied Cognitive Psychology,17, 1047–1055.
Storbeck, J., &Clore, G. L. (2005). With sadness comes accuracy; with happiness, false memory: Mood and the false memory effect.Psychological Science,16, 785–791.
Talarico, J. M., LaBar, K. S., &Rubin, D. C. (2004). Emotional intensity predicts autobiographical memory experience.Memory & Cognition,32, 1118–1132.
Talarico, J. M., &Rubin, D. C. (2003). Confidence, not consistency, characterizes flashbulb memories.Psychological Science,14, 455–461.
Tekcan, A. I. (2001). Flashbulb memories for a negative and a positive event: News of Desert Storm and acceptance to college.Psychological Reports,88, 323–331.
Tekcan, A. I., &Peynircioğlu, Z. F. (2002). Effects of age on flashbulb memories.Psychology & Aging,17, 416–422.
Walker, W. R., Skowronski, J. J., &Thompson, C. P. (2003). Life is pleasant—and memory helps to keep it that way!Review of General Psychology,7, 203–210.
Winningham, R. G., Hyman, I. E., Jr., &Dinnel, D. L. (2000). Flashbulb memories? The effects of when the initial memory report was obtained.Memory,8, 209–216.
Winograd, E., &Killinger, W. A., Jr. (1983). Relating age at encoding in early childhood to adult recall: Development of flashbulb memories.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,112, 413–422.
Wolters, G., &Goudsmit, J. J. (2005). Flashbulb and event memory of September 11, 2001: Consistency, confidence and age effects.Psychological Reports,96, 605–619.
Wright, D. B., &Anderson, S. J. (1996). Comments on Scott and Ponsoda’s (1996) positive and negative flashbulb memories.Psychological Reports,79, 1169–1170.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by Grants MH60941 (to D.L.S.) and MH070199 (to E.A.K.) from the National Institutes of Health.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kensinger, E.A., Schacter, D.L. When the Red Sox shocked the Yankees: Comparing negative and positive memories. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 13, 757–763 (2006). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193993
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193993