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How Attitudes Towards People Shape Our Memories

Andersson Faus, William LU and Karlsson, Cassandra LU (2025) PSYK12 20242
Department of Psychology
Abstract
This study investigated whether the emotional attitudes a person experiences
toward another individual influence episodic memory for items associated with
that individual. To examine this, we measured recognition memory for word pairs
that had been previously presented overlaid on images of celebrities, with
multiple images per celebrity. The participants were afterwards asked to report
experienced valence and arousal for each celebrity, and if they knew of them
previously. A significant main effect of valence on memory performance was
found, but no main effect of arousal and no interaction effect was found. This
showed that participants were better able to distinguish between old word pairs
and similar lures when they experienced... (More)
This study investigated whether the emotional attitudes a person experiences
toward another individual influence episodic memory for items associated with
that individual. To examine this, we measured recognition memory for word pairs
that had been previously presented overlaid on images of celebrities, with
multiple images per celebrity. The participants were afterwards asked to report
experienced valence and arousal for each celebrity, and if they knew of them
previously. A significant main effect of valence on memory performance was
found, but no main effect of arousal and no interaction effect was found. This
showed that participants were better able to distinguish between old word pairs
and similar lures when they experienced more positive valence towards the
associated celebrity. The experimental design and results of the present study
were similar to that of research into the incidental group-reference effect. This
was in order to test if the effect is replicable with only valence and arousal, and
without explicit group-references, as previous research has shown that certain
emotional components are needed for the effect to appear. As such our results
have potential implications regarding the causal origins of the incidental
group-reference effect. These potential implications require further research. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Andersson Faus, William LU and Karlsson, Cassandra LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYK12 20242
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Episodic memory, recognition memory, valence, arousal, group-reference effect.
language
English
id
9187014
date added to LUP
2025-03-26 12:50:56
date last changed
2025-03-26 12:50:56
@misc{9187014,
  abstract     = {{This study investigated whether the emotional attitudes a person experiences
toward another individual influence episodic memory for items associated with
that individual. To examine this, we measured recognition memory for word pairs
that had been previously presented overlaid on images of celebrities, with
multiple images per celebrity. The participants were afterwards asked to report
experienced valence and arousal for each celebrity, and if they knew of them
previously. A significant main effect of valence on memory performance was
found, but no main effect of arousal and no interaction effect was found. This
showed that participants were better able to distinguish between old word pairs
and similar lures when they experienced more positive valence towards the
associated celebrity. The experimental design and results of the present study
were similar to that of research into the incidental group-reference effect. This
was in order to test if the effect is replicable with only valence and arousal, and
without explicit group-references, as previous research has shown that certain
emotional components are needed for the effect to appear. As such our results
have potential implications regarding the causal origins of the incidental
group-reference effect. These potential implications require further research.}},
  author       = {{Andersson Faus, William and Karlsson, Cassandra}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{How Attitudes Towards People Shape Our Memories}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}