Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Review Article
  • Published:

Stability and malleability of emotional autobiographical memories

Nature Reviews Psychology (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Despite the vivid and convincing detail with which people can recollect emotional experiences from their past, emotional memory is malleable. As time passes, the memories of one’s best and worst experiences change as content is forgotten or sometimes added to the original memory. Still, people rely on emotional memories to represent their experiences across a diverse range of situations, from getting to know someone to psychotherapy. In this Review, we explore how and why emotional autobiographical memories — memories of one’s personal past — persist and transform over time, situating these findings in the framework of memory malleability. We highlight the crucial role of narrative in shaping autobiographical memories, which enables people to make sense of and extract meaning from the most salient lessons in their past. We also consider how the malleability of emotional memory shapes cognitive processes beyond remembering the past, such as imagining the future, and conclude by outlining important future directions for the field.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Hypothesized life course of emotional memory.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Conway, M. A., Justice, L. V. & D’Argembeau, A. in The Organization and Structure of Autobiographical Memory (ed. Mace, J.) 28–51 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2019).

  2. Fivush, R. The development of autobiographical memory. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 62, 559–582 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Pociunaite, J., Zimprich, D. & Wolf, T. Centrality of positive and negative autobiographical memories across adult life span. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 36, 623–635 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Maki, Y., Janssen, S. M. J., Uemiya, A. & Naka, M. The phenomenology and temporal distributions of autobiographical memories elicited with emotional and neutral cue words. Memory 21, 286–300 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Zaragoza Scherman, A., Salgado, S., Shao, Z. & Berntsen, D. Event centrality of positive and negative autobiographical memories to identity and life story across cultures. Memory 23, 1152–1171 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Misra, P., Marconi, A., Peterson, M. & Kreiman, G. Minimal memory for details in real life events. Sci. Rep. 8, 16701 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Hirst, W. et al. A ten-year follow-up of a study of memory for the attack of September 11, 2001: flashbulb memories and memories for flashbulb events. J. Exp. Psychol. 144, 604–623 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Murphy, G., Loftus, E. F., Grady, R. H., Levine, L. J. & Greene, C. M. False memories for fake news during Ireland’s abortion referendum. Psychol. Sci. 30, 1449–1459 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Murphy, G., Loftus, E., Levine, L. J., Grady, R. H. & Greene, C. M. Weak correlations among 13 episodic memory tasks related to the same public event. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.4103 (2023).

  10. Talarico, J. M. & Rubin, D. C. Confidence, not consistency, characterizes flashbulb memories. Psychol. Sci. 14, 455–461 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Kurkela, K. A. & Dennis, N. A. Event-related fMRI studies of false memory: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Neuropsychologia 81, 149–167 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. LePort, A. K. R., Stark, S. M., McGaugh, J. L. & Stark, C. E. L. Highly superior autobiographical memory: quality and quantity of retention over time. Front. Psychol. 6, 2017 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Schacter, D. L. The seven sins of memory: insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Am. Psychol. 54, 182–203 (1999).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Schacter, D. L. The seven sins of memory: an update. Memory 30, 37–42 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Brewin, C. R., Andrews, B. & Mickes, L. Regaining consensus on the reliability of memory. Curr. Dir. Psychol. 29, 121–125 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Howe, M. L. & Knott, L. M. The fallibility of memory in judicial processes: lessons from the past and their modern consequences. Memory 23, 633–656 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Addis, D. R. Are episodic memories special? On the sameness of remembered and imagined event simulation. J. R. Soc. N. Z. 48, 64–88 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bonnici, H. M. et al. Detecting representations of recent and remote autobiographical memories in vmPFC and hippocampus. J. Neurosci. 47, 16982–16991 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. De Brigard, F. Is memory for remembering? Recollection as a form of episodic hypothetical thinking. Synthese 191, 155–185 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Diamond, N. B., Armson, M. J. & Levine, B. The truth is out there: accuracy in recall of verifiable real-world events. Psychol. Sci. 31, 1544–1556 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Devitt, A. L., Monk-Fromont, E., Schacter, D. L. & Addis, D. R. Factors that influence the generation of autobiographical memory conjunction errors. Memory 24, 204–222 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Shaw, J. & Porter, S. Constructing rich false memories of committing crime. Psychol. Sci. 26, 291–301 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Wade, K. A., Garry, M. & Pezdek, K. Deconstructing rich false memories of committing crime: commentary on Shaw and Porter (2015). Psychol. Sci. 29, 471–476 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Wardell, V. et al. Fade in, fade out: the role of visual perspective in memory maintenance. Psychol. Sci. 34, 932–946 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Werning, M. Predicting the past from minimal traces: episodic memory and its distinction from imagination and preservation. Rev. Phil. Psych. 11, 301–333 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Bonnici, H. M. & Maguire, E. A. Two years later — revisiting autobiographical memory representations in vmPFC and hippocampus. Neuropsychologia 110, 159–169 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Robin, J. & Moscovitch, M. Details, gist and schema: hippocampal–neocortical interactions underlying recent and remote episodic and spatial memory. Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 17, 114–123 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Rubin, D. C. & Umanath, S. Event memory: a theory of memory for laboratory, autobiographical, and fictional events. Psychol. Rev. 122, 1–23 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Bartlett, F. C. Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1932).

  30. Brown, R. & Kulik, J. Flashbulb memories. Cognition 5, 73–99 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Neisser, U. John Dean’s memory: a case study. Cognition 9, 1–22 (1981).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Baugerud, G. A., Magnussen, S. & Melinder, A. High accuracy but low consistency in children’s long-term recall of a real-life stressful event. J. Exp. Child. Psychol. 126, 357–368 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Nielsen, N. P., Gehrt, T. B. & Berntsen, D. Individual differences in autobiographical memory predict memory confidence but not memory accuracy. J. Appl. Res. Mem. Cogn. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0101869 (2022).

  34. Stanley, S. E. & Benjamin, A. S. That’s not what you said the first time: a theoretical account of the relationship between consistency and accuracy of recall. Cogn. Res.: Princ. Implic. 1, 14 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Tulving, E. in Organization of Memory (eds Tulving, E. & Donaldson, W.) 381–403 (Academic Press, 1972).

  36. Renoult, L., Davidson, P. S., Palombo, D. J., Moscovitch, M. & Levine, B. Personal semantics: at the crossroads of semantic and episodic memory. Trends Cogn. Sci. 16, 550–558 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Kensinger, E. A. & Ford, J. H. Retrieval of emotional events from memory. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 71, 251–272 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Williams, S. E., Ford, J. H. & Kensinger, E. A. The power of negative and positive episodic memories. Cogn. Affect. Behav. Neurosci. 22, 869–903 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Fivush, R. & Grysman, A. Accuracy and reconstruction in autobiographical memory: (re)consolidating neuroscience and sociocultural developmental approaches. Wiley Interdisc. Rev. Cogn. Sci. 14, e1620 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Schacter, D. L., Greene, C. M. & Murphy, G. Bias and constructive processes in a self-memory system. Memory https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2023.2232568 (2023).

  41. Bluck, S., Alea, N., Habermas, T. & Rubin, D. C. A tale of three functions: the self-reported uses of autobiographical memory. Soc. Cogn. 23, 91–117 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Conway, M. A., Singer, J. A. & Tagini, A. The self and autobiographical memory: correspondence and coherence. Soc. Cogn. 22, 491–529 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Dalgleish, T. & Hitchcock, C. Transdiagnostic distortions in autobiographical memory recollection. Nat. Rev. Psychol. 2, 166–182 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Wank, A. A. et al. Autobiographical memory unknown: pervasive autobiographical memory loss encompassing personality trait knowledge in an individual with medial temporal lobe amnesia. Cortex 147, 41–57 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Clewett, D. & Murty, V. P. Echoes of emotions past: how neuromodulators determine what we recollect. eNeuro https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0108-18.2019 (2019).

  46. Holland, A. C. & Kensinger, E. A. Emotion and autobiographical memory. Phys. Life Rev. 7, 88–131 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Simpson, S. & Sheldon, S. Testing the impact of emotional mood and cue characteristics on detailed autobiographical memory retrieval. Emotion 20, 965–979 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Young, K. D., Erickson, K. & Drevets, W. C. Match between cue and memory valence during autobiographical memory recall in depression. Psychol. Rep. 111, 129–148 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Barzykowski, K. & Staugaard, S. R. Does retrieval intentionality really matter? Similarities and differences between involuntary memories and directly and generatively retrieved voluntary memories. Br. J. Psychol. 107, 519–536 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Janssen, S. M. & Murre, J. M. Reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory: unexplained by novelty, emotionality, valence, or importance of personal events. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 61, 1847–1860 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Comblain, C., D’Argembeau, A. & Van der Linden, M. Phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories for emotional and neutral events in older and younger adults. Exp. Aging Res. 31, 173–189 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. McKinnon, M. C. et al. Threat of death and autobiographical memory: a study of passengers from Flight AT236. Clin. Psychol. Sci. 3, 487–502 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Schaefer, A. & Philippot, P. Selective effects of emotion on the phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories. Memory 13, 148–160 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Wardell, V. et al. How emotion influences the details recalled in autobiographical memory. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 35, 1454–1465 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. D’Argembeau, A., Comblain, C. & Van der Linden, M. Phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories for positive, negative, and neutral events. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 17, 281–294 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Ford, J. H., Addis, D. R. & Giovanello, K. S. Differential effects of arousal in positive and negative autobiographical memories. Memory 20, 771–778 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  57. Rubin, D. C., Schrauf, R. W. & Greenberg, D. L. Belief and recollection of autobiographical memories. Mem. Cogn. 31, 887–901 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Talarico, J. M., LaBar, K. S. & Rubin, D. C. Emotional intensity predicts autobiographical memory experience. Mem. Cogn. 32, 1118–1132 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Clore, G. L. & Huntsinger, J. R. How emotions inform judgment and regulate thought. Trends Cogn. Sci. 11, 393–399 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  60. Fiacconi, C. M., Dekraker, J. & Köhler, S. Psychophysiological evidence for the role of emotion in adaptive memory. J. Exp. Psychol. 144, 925–933 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Levine, L. J. & Edelstein, R. S. Emotion and memory narrowing: a review and goal-relevance approach. Cogn. Emot. 23, 833–875 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Madan, C. R. Motivated cognition: effects of reward, emotion, and other motivational factors across a variety of cognitive domains. Coll. Psychol. 3, 24 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Nairne, J. S., Pandeirada, J. N. S. & Thompson, S. R. Adaptive memory: the comparative value of survival processing. Psychol. Sci. 19, 176–180 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Todd, R. M., Miskovic, V., Chikazoe, J. & Anderson, A. K. Emotional objectivity: neural representations of emotions and their interaction with cognition. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 71, 25–48 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  65. Cheriet, N., Topçu, M., Hirst, W., Bastin, C. & Folville, A. A day that America will remember: flashbulb memory, collective memory, and future thinking for the capitol riots. Memory 31, 715–731 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Cordonnier, A. & Luminet, O. Consistency and social identification: a test–retest study of flashbulb memories collected on the day of the 2016 Brussels bombings. Memory 29, 305–318 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Curci, A., Lanciano, T., Maddalena, C., Mastandrea, S. & Sartori, G. Flashbulb memories of the pope’s resignation: explicit and implicit measures across differing religious groups. Memory 23, 529–544 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Ma, X. & Wan, J. Exploring the role of digital media dependency on the relationship between personal involvement and flashbulb memory during the pandemic: empirical evidence from mainland China. Front. Psychol. 13, 985287 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  69. Muzzulini, B., Tinti, C., Conway, M. A., Testa, S. & Schmidt, S. Flashbulb memory: referring back to Brown and Kulik’s definition. Memory 28, 766–782 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  70. Talarico, J. M., Kraha, A., Self, H. & Boals, A. How did you hear the news? The role of traditional media, social media, and personal communication in flashbulb memory. Mem. Stud. 12, 359–376 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  71. Talarico, J. M. & Rubin, D. C. in Flashbulb Memories 2nd edn (eds Luminet, O. & Curci, A.) 73–95 (Routledge, 2017).

  72. Hirst, W. et al. Long-term memory for the terrorist attack of September 11: flashbulb memories, event memories, and the factors that influence their retention. J. Exp. Psychol. 138, 161–176 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Coluccia, E., Bianco, C. & Brandimonte, M. A. Dissociating veridicality, consistency, and confidence in autobiographical and event memories for the columbia shuttle disaster. Memory 14, 452–470 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  74. Talarico, J. M. & Rubin, D. C. Flashbulb memories are special after all; in phenomenology, not accuracy. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 21, 557–578 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  75. van Giezen, A. E., Arensman, E., Spinhoven, P. & Wolters, G. Consistency of memory for emotionally arousing events: a review of prospective and experimental studies. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 25, 935–953 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  76. Raw, J., Rorke, A., Ellis, J., Murayama, K. & Sakaki, M. Memory of the U.K.’s 2016 EU referendum: the effects of valence on the long-term measures of a public event. Emotion 23, 52–74 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  77. Hirst, W. & Phelps, E. A. Flashbulb memories. Curr. Dir. Psychol. 25, 36–41 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  78. Winningham, R. G., Hyman, I. E. & Dinnel, D. L. Flashbulb memories? The effects of when the initial memory report was obtained. Memory 8, 209–216 (2000).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  79. Kvavilashvili, L., Mirani, J., Schlagman, S., Foley, K. & Kornbrot, D. E. Consistency of flashbulb memories of September 11 over long delays: implications for consolidation and wrong time slice hypotheses. J. Mem. Lang. 61, 556–572 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  80. Schmolck, H., Buffalo, E. A. & Squire, L. R. Memory distortions develop over time: recollections of the O. J. Simpson trial verdict after 15 and 32 months. Psychol. Sci. 11, 39–45 (2000).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  81. Davidson, P. S. R., Cook, S. P. & Glisky, E. L. Flashbulb memories for September 11th can be preserved in older adults. Aging Neuropsychol. Cogn. 13, 196–206 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  82. Kvavilashvili, L., Mirani, J., Schlagman, S., Erskine, J. A. K. & Kornbrot, D. E. Effects of age on phenomenology and consistency of flashbulb memories of September 11 and a staged control event. Psychol. Aging 25, 391–404 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  83. Kensinger, E. A. & Schacter, D. L. When the Red Sox shocked the Yankees: comparing negative and positive memories. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 13, 757–763 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  84. Bisby, J. A. & Burgess, N. Negative affect impairs associative memory but not item memory. Learn. Mem. 21, 21–27 (2014).

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  85. Bisby, J. A., Horner, A. J., Hørlyck, L. D. & Burgess, N. Opposing effects of negative emotion on amygdalar and hippocampal memory for items and associations. Soc. Cogn. Affect. 11, 981–990 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  86. Caplan, J. B., Sommer, T., Madan, C. R. & Fujiwara, E. Reduced associative memory for negative information: impact of confidence and interactive imagery during study. Cogn. Emot. 33, 1745–1753 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  87. Fujiwara, E., Madan, C. R., Caplan, J. B. & Sommer, T. Emotional arousal impairs association memory: roles of prefrontal cortex regions. Learn. Mem. 28, 76–81 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  88. Madan, C. R., Caplan, J. B., Lau, C. S. M. & Fujiwara, E. Emotional arousal does not enhance association-memory. J. Mem. Lang. 66, 695–716 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  89. Madan, C. R., Fujiwara, E., Caplan, J. B. & Sommer, T. Emotional arousal impairs association-memory: roles of amygdala and hippocampus. NeuroImage 156, 14–28 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  90. Palombo, D. J., Te, A. A., Checknita, K. J. & Madan, C. R. Exploring the facets of emotional episodic memory: remembering ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘which’. Psychol. Sci. 32, 1104–1114 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  91. Stewardson, C. I., Hunsche, M. C., Wardell, V., Palombo, D. J. & Kerns, C. M. Episodic memory through a social and emotional lens. Emotion 23, 961–972 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  92. Chiu, Y., Dolcos, F., Gonsalves, B. D. & Cohen, N. J. On opposing effects of emotion on contextual or relational memory. Front. Psychol. 4, 103 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  93. Kensinger, E. A., Garoff-Eaton, R. J. & Schacter, D. L. Effects of emotion on memory specificity: memory trade-offs elicited by negative visually arousing stimuli. J. Mem. Lang. 56, 575–591 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  94. Madan, C. R., Scott, S. M. E. & Kensinger, E. A. Positive emotion enhances association-memory. Emotion 19, 733–740 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  95. Yegiyan, N. S. & Yonelinas, A. P. Encoding details: positive emotion leads to memory broadening. Cogn. Emot. 25, 1255–1262 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  96. Bowen, H. J., Kark, S. M. & Kensinger, E. A. NEVER forget: negative emotional valence enhances recapitulation. Psychol. Bull. Rev. 25, 870–891 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  97. Adolphs, R., Tranel, D. & Buchanan, T. Amygdala damage impairs emotional memory for gist but not details of complex stimuli. Nat. Neurosci. 8, 512–518 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  98. Dev, D. K. et al. Negative emotion enhances memory for the sequential unfolding of a naturalistic experience. J. Appl. Res. Mem. Cogn. 11, 510–521 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  99. Laney, C., Campbell, H. V., Heuer, F. & Reisberg, D. Memory for thematically arousing events. Mem. Cogn. 32, 1149–1159 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  100. Lee, T., Greening, S. G. & Mather, M. Encoding of goal-relevant stimuli is strengthened by emotional arousal in memory. Front. Psychol. 6, 1173–1173 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  101. Loftus, E. F., Loftus, G. R. & Messo, J. Some facts about “weapon focus”. Law Hum. Behav. 11, 55–62 (1987).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  102. Mather, M. & Sutherland, M. R. Arousal-biased competition in perception and memory. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 6, 114–133 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  103. Fivush, R., Hazzard, A., McDermott Sales, J., Sarfati, D. & Brown, T. Creating coherence out of chaos? Children’s narratives of emotionally positive and negative events. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 17, 1–19 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  104. Rubin, D. C. et al. Participant, rater, and computer measures of coherence in posttraumatic stress disorder. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 125, 11–25 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  105. Smorti, A. & Fioretti, C. Why narrating changes memory: a contribution to an integrative model of memory and narrative processes. Integr. Psych. Behav. 50, 296–319 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  106. Singer, J. A., Blagov, P., Berry, M. & Oost, K. M. Self-defining memories, scripts, and the life story: narrative identity in personality and psychotherapy. J. Pers. 81, 569–582 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  107. St. Jacques, P. L. & Levine, B. Ageing and autobiographical memory for emotional and neutral events. Memory 15, 129–144 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  108. Dégeilh, F. et al. Changes over 10 years in the retelling of the flashbulb memories of the attack of 11 September 2001. Memory 29, 1006–1016 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  109. Campbell, J., Nadel, L., Duke, D. & Ryan, L. Remembering all that and then some: recollection of autobiographical memories after a 1-year delay. Memory 19, 406–415 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  110. Sheldon, S., Williams, K., Harrington, S. & Otto, A. R. Emotional cue effects on accessing and elaborating upon autobiographical memories. Cognition 198, 10421 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  111. Gilboa, A. & Moscovitch, M. No consolidation without representation: correspondence between neural and psychological representations in recent and remote memory. Neuron 109, 2239–2255 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  112. Berntsen, D. & Rubin, D. C. Cultural life scripts structure recall from autobiographical memory. Mem. Cogn. 32, 427–442 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  113. McAdams, D. P. ‘First we invented stories, then they changed us’: the evolution of narrative identity. Evol. Stud. Imaginative Cult. https://doi.org/10.26613/esic.3.1.110 (2019).

  114. McLean, K. C. & Syed, M. Personal, master, and alternative narratives: an integrative framework for understanding identity development in context. Hum. Dev. 58, 318–349 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  115. Baldassano, C. et al. Discovering event structure in continuous narrative perception and memory. Neuron 95, 709–721.e5 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  116. Winocur, G., Moscovitch, M. & Bontempi, B. Memory formation and long-term retention in humans and animals: convergence towards a transformation account of hippocampal–neocortical interactions. Neuropsychologia 48, 2339–2356 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  117. McCormick, C., St-Laurent, M., Ty, A., Valiante, T. A. & McAndrews, M. P. Functional and effective hippocampal-neocortical connectivity during construction and elaboration of autobiographical memory retrieval. Cereb. Cortex 25, 1297–1305 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  118. Sekeres, M. J., Winocur, G. & Moscovitch, M. The hippocampus and related neocortical structures in memory transformation. Neurosci. Lett. 680, 39–53 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  119. Bietti, L. M., Tilston, O. & Bangerter, A. Storytelling as adaptive collective sensemaking. Top. Cogn. Sci. 11, 710–732 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  120. Boyd, B. The evolution of stories: from mimesis to language, from fact to fiction. Wiley Interdisc. Rev. Cogn. Sci. 9, e1444 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  121. McAdams, D. P. The psychology of life stories. Rev. Gen. Psychol. 5, 100–122 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  122. Bellana, B., Mahabal, A. & Honey, C. J. Narrative thinking lingers in spontaneous thought. Nat. Commun. 13, 4585 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  123. Garcia-Pelegrin, E., Wilkins, C. & Clayton, N. S. The ape that lived to tell the tale. The evolution of the art of storytelling and its relationship to mental time travel and theory of mind. Front. Psychol. 12, 755783 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  124. Smith, D. et al. Cooperation and the evolution of hunter-gatherer storytelling. Nat. Commun. 8, 1853 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  125. Bauer, J. J., McAdams, D. P. & Sakaeda, A. R. Interpreting the good life: growth memories in the lives of mature, happy people. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 88, 203–217 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  126. Bluck, S. & Glück, J. Making things better and learning a lesson: experiencing wisdom across the lifespan. J. Pers. 72, 543–572 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  127. Berntsen, D., Rubin, D. C. & Siegler, I. C. Two versions of life: emotionally negative and positive life events have different roles in the organization of life story and identity. Emotion 11, 1190–1201 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  128. Conway, M. A. Memory and the self. J. Mem. Lang. 53, 594–628 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  129. Reyna, V. F., Corbin, J. C., Weldon, R. B. & Brainerd, C. J. How fuzzy-trace theory predicts true and false memories for words, sentences, and narratives. J. Appl. Res. Mem. Cogn. 5, 1–9 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  130. Sherman, B. E., Graves, K. N. & Turk-Browne, N. B. The prevalence and importance of statistical learning in human cognition and behavior. Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 32, 15–20 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  131. Brown, N. R. Transition theory: a minimalist perspective on the organization of autobiographical memory. J. Appl. Res. Mem. Cogn. 5, 128–134 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  132. Dings, R. & Newen, A. Constructing the past: the relevance of the narrative self in modulating episodic memory. Rev. Phil. Psychol. 14, 87–112 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  133. Adler, J. M. Living into the story: agency and coherence in a longitudinal study of narrative identity development and mental health over the course of psychotherapy. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 102, 367–389 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  134. Baddeley, J. & Singer, J. A. A loss in the family: silence, memory, and narrative identity after bereavement. Memory 18, 198–207 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  135. Laranjeira, C. The role of narrative and metaphor in the cancer life story: a theoretical analysis. Med. Health Care Phil. 16, 469–481 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  136. Adler, J. M. et al. Variation in narrative identity is associated with trajectories of mental health over several years. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 108, 476–496 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  137. Bauer, J. J. & McAdams, D. P. Personal growth in adults’ stories of life transitions. J. Pers. 72, 573–602 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  138. McAdams, D. P. et al. Continuity and change in the life story: a longitudinal study of autobiographical memories in emerging adulthood. J. Pers. 74, 1371–1400 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  139. McAdams, D. P. & McLean, K. C. Narrative identity. Curr. Dir. Psychol. 22, 233–238 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  140. Habermas, T. Autobiographical reasoning: arguing and narrating from a biographical perspective. N. Dir. Youth Dev. 131, 1–17 (2011).

    Google Scholar 

  141. Brewer, W. F. & Sampaio, C. Processes leading to confidence and accuracy in sentence recognition: a metamemory approach. Memory 14, 540–552 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  142. Edelson, M., Sharot, T., Dolan, R. J. & Dudai, Y. Following the crowd: brain substrates of long-term memory conformity. Science 333, 108–111 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  143. Hupbach, A., Gomez, R., Hardt, O. & Nadel, L. Reconsolidation of episodic memories: a subtle reminder triggers integration of new information. Learn. Mem. 14, 47–53 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  144. Sinclair, A. H. & Barense, M. D. Surprise and destabilize: prediction error influences episodic memory reconsolidation. Learn. Mem. 25, 369–381 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  145. Scully, I. D., Napper, L. E. & Hupbach, A. Does reactivation trigger episodic memory change? A meta-analysis. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 142, 99–107 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  146. Jardine, K. H. et al. Activation of cortical M1 muscarinic receptors and related intracellular signaling is necessary for reactivation-induced object memory updating. Sci. Rep. 10, 9209 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  147. Jones, B., Bukoski, E., Nadel, L. & Fellous, J. Remaking memories: reconsolidation updates positively motivated spatial memory in rats. Learn. Mem. 19, 91–98 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  148. Winters, B. D., Tucci, M. C., Jacklin, D. L., Reid, J. M. & Newsome, J. On the dynamic nature of the engram: evidence for circuit-level reorganization of object memory traces following reactivation. J. Neurosci. 31, 17719–17728 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  149. Jardine, K. H., Huff, A. E., Wideman, C. E., McGraw, S. D. & Winters, B. D. The evidence for and against reactivation-induced memory updating in humans and nonhuman animals. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 136, 104598 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  150. Payne, J. Sleep on it! Stabilizing and transforming memories during sleep. Nat. Neurosci 14, 272–274 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  151. Kroes, M. C. et al. An electroconvulsive therapy procedure impairs reconsolidation of episodic memories in humans. Nat. Neurosci 17, 204–206 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  152. Schwabe, L. & Wolf, O. T. New episodic learning interferes with the reconsolidation of autobiographical memories. PLoS One 4, e7519 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  153. Schwabe, L., Nader, K., Wolf, O. T., Beaudry, T. & Pruessner, J. C. Neural signature of reconsolidation impairments by propranolol in humans. Biol. Psychiat. 71, 380–386 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  154. Elsey, J. W. B., Van Ast, V. A. & Kindt, M. Human memory reconsolidation: a guiding framework and critical review of the evidence. Psychol. Bull. 144, 797–848 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  155. Harris, C. B., O’Connor, A. R. & Sutton, J. Cue generation and memory construction in direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval. Conscious. Cogn. 33, 204–216 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  156. Butler, A. C., Rice, H. J., Wooldridge, C. L. & Rubin, D. C. Visual imagery in autobiographical memory: the role of repeated retrieval in shifting perspective. Conscious. Cogn. 42, 237–253 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  157. Walker, W. R., Skowronski, J. J., Gibbons, J. A., Vogl, R. J. & Ritchie, T. D. Why people rehearse their memories: frequency of use and relations to the intensity of emotions associated with autobiographical memories. Memory 17, 760–773 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  158. Breslin, C. W. & Safer, M. A. Effects of event valence on long-term memory for two baseball championship games. Psychol. Sci. 22, 1408–1412 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  159. Chiew, K. S., Harris, B. B. & Adcock, R. A. Remembering election night 2016: subjective but not objective metrics of autobiographical memory vary with political affiliation, affective valence, and surprise. J. Exp.Psychol. 151, 390–409 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  160. Holland, A. C. & Kensinger, E. A. Younger, middle-aged, and older adults’ memories for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. J. Appl. Res. Mem. Cogn. 1, 163–170 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  161. Levine, L. J. et al. Remembering facts versus feelings in the wake of political events. Cogn. Emot. 35, 936–955 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  162. Nørby, S. Mnemonic emotion regulation: a three-process model. Cogn. Emot. 33, 959–975 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  163. Engen, H. G. & Anderson, M. C. Memory control: a fundamental mechanism of emotion regulation. Trends Cogn. Sci. 22, 982–995 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  164. Pascuzzi, D. & Smorti, A. Emotion regulation, autobiographical memories and life narratives. N. Ideas Psychol. 45, 28–37 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  165. Werner-Seidler, A., Tan, L. & Dalgleish, T. The vicissitudes of positive autobiographical recollection as an emotion regulation strategy in depression. Clin. Psychol. Sci. 5, 26–36 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  166. Booker, J. A. Patterns in autobiographical reminiscing among early adults: implications for forgiveness and self‐compassion. Soc. Dev. 28, 802–819 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  167. Hallford, D. J. et al. Remembering for resilience: brief cognitive‐reminiscence therapy improves psychological resources and mental well‐being in young adults. Appl. Psychol. Health Well-being 14, 1004–1021 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  168. Fioretti, C. & Smorti, A. Narrating positive versus negative memories of illness: does narrating influence the emotional tone of memories? Eur. J. Cancer 26, e12524 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  169. Heux, L., Rathbone, C., Gensburger, S., Clifford, R. & Souchay, C. Collective memory and autobiographical memory: perspectives from the humanities and cognitive sciences. Wiley Interdisc. Rev. Cogn. Sci. 14, e1635 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  170. Maswood, R., Rasmussen, A. S. & Rajaram, S. Collaborative remembering of emotional autobiographical memories: implications for emotion regulation and collective memory. J. Exp. Psychol. 148, 65–79 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  171. Rouhani, N. et al. Collective events and individual affect shape autobiographical memory. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2221919120 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  172. Safer, M. A., Bonanno, G. A. & Field, N. P. “It was never that bad”: biased recall of grief and long-term adjustment to the death of a spouse. Memory 9, 195–203 (2001).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  173. Schmidt, S., Muzzulini, B., Levine, L. J. & Tinti, C. Sources of bias in memory for emotional reactions to Brexit: current feelings mediate the link between appraisals and memories. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 35, 819–827 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  174. Levine, L. J., Schmidt, S., Kang, H. S. & Tinti, C. Remembering the silver lining: reappraisal and positive bias in memory for emotion. Cogn. Emot. 26, 871–884 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  175. Ritchie, T., Skowronski, J. J., Hartnett, J., Wells, B. & Walker, W. R. The fading affect bias in the context of emotion activation level, mood, and personal theories of emotion change. Memory 17, 428–444 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  176. Ritchie, T. D. et al. Event self-importance, event rehearsal, and the fading affect bias in autobiographical memory. Self Identity 5, 172–195 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  177. Ottenstein, C. & Lischetzke, T. Recall bias in emotional intensity ratings: investigating person-level and event-level predictors. Motiv. Emot. 44, 464–473 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  178. Berntsen, D. & Hall, N. M. The episodic nature of involuntary autobiographical memories. Mem. Cogn. 32, 789–803 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  179. del Palacio-Gonzalez, A., Berntsen, D. & Watson, L. A. Emotional intensity and emotion regulation in response to autobiographical memories during dysphoria. Cogn. Ther. Res. 41, 530–542 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  180. Rubin, D. C., Dennis, M. F. & Beckham, J. C. Autobiographical memory for stressful events: the role of autobiographical memory in posttraumatic stress disorder. Conscious. Cogn. 20, 840–856 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  181. Christianson, S. & Engelberg, E. Memory and emotional consistency: the MS Estonia ferry disaster. Memory 7, 471–482 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  182. Greenstein, M. & Franklin, N. Anger increases susceptibility to misinformation. Exp. Psychol. 67, 202–209 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  183. Loftus, E. F. Planting misinformation in the human mind: a 30-year investigation of the malleability of memory. Learn. Mem. 12, 361–366 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  184. O’Donnell, R. & Chan, J. C. K. Does blatantly contradictory information reduce the misinformation effect? A registered report replication of Loftus (1979). Leg. Criminol. Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12242 (2023).

  185. Sharma, P. R., Wade, K. A. & Jobson, L. A systematic review of the relationship between emotion and susceptibility to misinformation. Memory 31, 1–21 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  186. Scoboria, A. et al. A mega-analysis of memory reports from eight peer-reviewed false memory implantation studies. Memory 25, 146–163 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  187. Gabbert, F., Memon, A., Allan, K. & Wright, D. B. Say it to my face: examining the effects of socially encountered misinformation. Leg. Criminol. Psychol. 9, 215–227 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  188. Jalbert, M. C., Wulff, A. N. & Hyman, I. E. Stealing and sharing memories: source monitoring biases following collaborative remembering. Cognition 211, 104656 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  189. Greene, C. M., Bradshaw, R., Huston, C. & Murphy, G. The medium and the message: comparing the effectiveness of six methods of misinformation delivery in an eyewitness memory paradigm. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 28, 677–693 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  190. Laney, C. & Loftus, E. F. Traumatic memories are not necessarily accurate memories. Can. J. Psychiat. 50, 823–828 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  191. Strange, D. & Takarangi, M. K. T. Memory distortion for traumatic events: the role of mental imagery. Front. Psychiat. 6, 27 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  192. Greenspan, R. L. & Loftus, E. F. Pandemics and infodemics: research on the effects of misinformation on memory. Hum. Behav. Emerg. 3, 8–12 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  193. Putnam, A. L., Sungkhasettee, V. W. & Roediger, H. L. When misinformation improves memory: the effects of recollecting change. Psychol. Sci. 28, 36–46 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  194. Kaplan, R. L., Van Damme, I., Levine, L. J. & Loftus, E. F. Emotion and false memory. Emot. Rev. 8, 8–13 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  195. Levine, L. & Bluck, S. Painting with broad strokes: happiness and the malleability of event memory. Cogn. Emot. 18, 559–574 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  196. Addis, D. R. Mental time travel? A neurocognitive model of event simulation. Rev. Phil. Psych. 11, 233–259 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  197. Gilbert, D. T. & Wilson, T. D. Prospection: experiencing the future. Science 317, 1351–1354 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  198. Hassabis, D. & Maguire, E. A. Deconstructing episodic memory with construction. Trends Cogn. Sci. 11, 299–306 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  199. Schacter, D. L. & Addis, D. R. The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory: remembering the past and imagining the future. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 362, 773–786 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  200. Schacter, D. L., Benoit, R. G., De Brigard, F. & Szpunar, K. K. Episodic future thinking and episodic counterfactual thinking: intersections between memory and decisions. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 117, 14–21 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  201. Szpunar, K. K., Spreng, R. N. & Schacter, D. L. in Seeing the Future: Theoretical Perspectives on Future-Oriented Mental Time Travel (ed. Michaelian, K.) 21–35 (Oxford Academic, 2016).

  202. Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R. & Buckner, R. L. Episodic simulation of future events: concepts, data, and applications. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1124, 39–60 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  203. Schacter, D. L. Adaptive constructive processes and the future of memory. Am. Psychol. 67, 603–613 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  204. D’Argembeau, A., Renaud, O. & Van der Linden, M. Frequency, characteristics and functions of future-oriented thoughts in daily life. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 25, 96–103 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  205. Wardell, V., Grilli, M. D. & Palombo, D. J. Simulating the best and worst of times: the powers and perils of emotional simulation. Memory 30, 1212–1225 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  206. Cocquyt, C. M. & Palombo, D. J. Emotion in the mind’s eye: imagination for adaptive cognition. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1526, 59–72 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  207. Devitt, A. L. & Schacter, D. L. An optimistic outlook creates a rosy past: the impact of episodic simulation on subsequent memory. Psychol. Sci. 29, 936–946 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  208. McLelland, V. C., Devitt, A. L., Schacter, D. L. & Addis, D. R. Making the future memorable: the phenomenology of remembered future events. Memory 23, 1255–1263 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  209. Szpunar, K. K., Addis, D. R. & Schacter, D. L. Memory for emotional simulations: remembering a rosy future. Psychol. Sci. 23, 24–29 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  210. Gaesser, B. & Fowler, Z. Episodic simulation of prosocial interaction: investigating the roles of memory and imagination in facilitating a willingness to help others. Psychol. Conscious. 7, 376–387 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  211. Paulus, P. C., Dabas, A., Felber, A. & Benoit, R. G. Simulation-based learning influences real-life attitudes. Cognition 227, 105202 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  212. Rösch, S. A., Stramaccia, D. F. & Benoit, R. G. Promoting farsighted decisions via episodic future thinking: a meta-analysis. J. Exp. Psychol. 151, 1606–1635 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  213. Vollberg, M. C., Gaesser, B. & Cikara, M. Activating episodic simulation increases affective empathy. Cognition 209, 104558 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  214. Sinclair, A. H. & Barense, M. D. Prediction error and memory reactivation: how incomplete reminders drive reconsolidation. Trends Neurosci. 42, 727–739 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  215. Sow, F., Dijkstra, K. & Janssen, S. M. J. Developments in the functions of autobiographical memory: an advanced review. Wiley Interdisc. Rev. Cogn. Sci. 14, e1625 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  216. Drace, S. Evidence for the role of affect in mood congruent recall of autobiographic memories. Motiv. Emot. 37, 623–628 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  217. Knight, B. G., Maines, M. L. & Robinson, G. S. The effects of sad mood on memory in older adults: a test of the mood congruence effect. Psychol. Aging 17, 653–661 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  218. Hashimoto, J., Kanayama, N., Miyatani, M. & Nakao, T. The mood repair effect of positive involuntary autobiographical memory among Japanese adults: an experimental study. SAGE Open https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221093357 (2022).

  219. Rusting, C. L. & DeHart, T. Retrieving positive memories to regulate negative mood: consequences for mood-congruent memory. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 78, 737–752 (2000).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  220. Seebauer, L. et al. Mood repair in healthy individuals: both processing mode and imagery content matter. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psychiat. 50, 289–294 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  221. Nørby, S. Forgetting and emotion regulation in mental health, anxiety and depression. Memory 26, 342–363 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  222. Cox, K. & McAdams, D. P. Meaning making during high and low point life story episodes predicts emotion regulation two years later: how the past informs the future. J. Res. Pers. 50, 66–70 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  223. Walker, W. R., Skowronski, J. J. & Thompson, C. P. Life is pleasant — and memory helps to keep it that way! Rev. Gen. Psychol. 7, 203–210 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  224. Colombo, D. et al. Affect recall bias: being resilient by distorting reality. Cogn. Ther. Res. 44, 906–918 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  225. Wang, Q., Koh, J. B. K., Song, Q. & Hou, Y. Knowledge of memory functions in European and Asian American adults and children: the relation to autobiographical memory. Memory 23, 25–38 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  226. Werner-Seidler, A. & Moulds, M. L. Recalling positive self-defining memories in depression: the impact of processing mode. Memory 22, 525–535 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  227. del Palacio-Gonzalez, A. & Berntsen, D. Memory-related emotion regulation and its relation to internalizing symptoms. Cogn. Ther. Res. 44, 1162–1176 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  228. Dalgleish, T. & Werner-Seidler, A. Disruptions in autobiographical memory processing in depression and the emergence of memory therapeutics. Trends Cogn. Sci. 18, 596–604 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  229. Joormann, J. & Siemer, M. Memory accessibility, mood regulation, and dysphoria: difficulties in repairing sad mood with happy memories? J. Abnorm. Psychol. 113, 179–188 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  230. Colombo, D. et al. The moderating role of emotion regulation in the recall of negative autobiographical memories. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 18, 7122 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  231. Parikh, N., De Brigard, F. & LaBar, K. S. The efficacy of downward counterfactual thinking for regulating emotional memories in anxious individuals. Front. Psychol. 12, 712066 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  232. Williams, J. M. G. et al. Autobiographical memory specificity and emotional disorder. Psychol. Bull. 133, 122–148 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  233. Hitchcock, C., Werner-Seidler, A., Blackwell, S. E. & Dalgleish, T. Autobiographical episodic memory-based training for the treatment of mood, anxiety and stress-related disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 52, 92–107 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  234. Barry, T. J., Hallford, D. J., Hitchcock, C., Takano, K. & Raes, F. The current state of Memory Specificity Training (MeST) for emotional disorders. Curr. Opin. Psychol. 41, 28–33 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  235. Benoit, R. G., Davies, D. J. & Anderson, M. C. Reducing future fears by suppressing the brain mechanisms underlying episodic simulation. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, E8492–E8501 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  236. Ji, J. L., Murphy, F. C., Grafton, B., MacLeod, C. & Holmes, E. A. Emotional mental imagery generation during spontaneous future thinking: relationship with optimism and negative mood. Psychol. Res. 86, 617–626 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  237. Jing, H. G., Madore, K. P. & Schacter, D. L. Worrying about the future: an episodic specificity induction impacts problem solving, reappraisal, and well-being. J. Exp. Psychol. 145, 402–418 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  238. Kaplan, R. L., Van Damme, I. & Levine, L. J. Motivation matters: differing effects of pre-goal and post-goal emotions on attention and memory. Front. Psychol. 3, 404–404 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  239. Levine, L. J. & Pizarro, D. A. Emotion and memory research: a grumpy overview. Soc. Cogn. 22, 530–554 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  240. McLean, K. C., Dunlap, D., Jennings, S. C., Litvitskiy, N. S. & Lilgendahl, J. P. Stability and change in autobiographical reasoning: a 4‐year longitudinal study of narrative identity development. J. Pers. 90, 343–356 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  241. Graci, M. E. & Fivush, R. Narrative meaning making, attachment, and psychological growth and stress. J. Soc. Pers. Relatsh. 34, 486–509 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  242. Berman, S. L., Montgomery, M. J. & Ratner, K. Trauma and identity: a reciprocal relationship? J. Adolesc. 79, 275–278 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  243. Vazquez, C. et al. Post-traumatic growth and stress-related responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in a national representative sample: the role of positive core beliefs about the world and others. J. Happiness Stud. 22, 2915–2935 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  244. Melega, G., Lancelotte, F. A., Hornberger, M., Levine, B. & Renoult, L. Evoking episodic and semantic details with instructional manipulation: the semantic autobiographical interview. Preprint at PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6h23t (2023).

  245. Renoult, L. et al. Classification of general and personal semantic details in the autobiographical interview. Neuropsychologia 144, 107501 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  246. Strikwerda‐Brown, C., Mothakunnel, A., Hodges, J. R., Piguet, O. & Irish, M. External details revisited — a new taxonomy for coding ‘non‐episodic’ content during autobiographical memory retrieval. J. Neuropsychol. 13, 371–397 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  247. Takano, K., Gutenbrunner, C., Martens, K., Salmon, K. & Raes, F. Computerized scoring algorithms for the autobiographical memory test. Psychol. Assess. 30, 259–273 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  248. van Genugten, R. & Schacter, D. L. Automated scoring of the autobiographical interview with natural language processing. Behav. Res. Methods 56, 2243–2259 (2024).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  249. Wardell, V., Esposito, C. L., Madan, C. R. & Palombo, D. J. Semi-automated transcription and scoring of autobiographical memory narratives. Behav. Res. Methods 53, 507–517 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  250. Campbell, K. L., Madore, K. P., Benoit, R. G., Thakral, P. P. & Schacter, D. L. Increased hippocampus to ventromedial prefrontal connectivity during the construction of episodic future events. Hippocampus 28, 76–80 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  251. Cleary, A. M. & Claxton, A. B. Déjà vu: an illusion of prediction. Psychol. Sci. 29, 635–644 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  252. van Genugten, R. D. I., Beaty, R. E., Madore, K. P. & Schacter, D. L. Does episodic retrieval contribute to creative writing? An exploratory study. Creat. Res. J. 34, 145–158 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  253. Carpenter, A. C. & Schacter, D. L. Flexible retrieval: when true inferences produce false memories. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 43, 335–349 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  254. Blackwell, S. E. Mental imagery in the science and practice of cognitive behaviour therapy: past, present, and future perspectives. J. Cogn. Ther. 14, 160–181 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  255. Grella, S. L. et al. Reactivating hippocampal-mediated memories during reconsolidation to disrupt fear. Nat. Commun. 13, 4733 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  256. Everaert, J., Vrijsen, J. N., Martin-Willett, R., van de Kraats, L. & Joormann, J. A meta-analytic review of the relationship between explicit memory bias and depression: depression features an explicit memory bias that persists beyond a depressive episode. Psychol. Bull. 148, 435–463 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  257. Hallford, D. J., Rusanov, D., Yeow, J. J. E. & Barry, T. J. Overgeneral and specific autobiographical memory predict the course of depression: an updated meta-analysis. Psychol. Med. 51, 909–926 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  258. Herrera, S., Montorio, I., Cabrera, I. & Botella, J. Memory bias for threatening information related to anxiety: an updated meta-analytic review. Cogn. Psychol. 29, 832–854 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  259. Barrett, L. F. & Westlin, C. in Emotion Measurement (ed. Meiselman, H. L.) 39–84 (Woodhead Publishing, 2021).

  260. Kensinger, E. A. & Murray, B. D. in Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning (ed. Seel, N. M.) 1128–1131 (Springer, 2012).

  261. Berntsen, D. & Rubin, D. C. Emotion and vantage point in autobiographical. Cogn. Emot. 20, 1193–1215 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  262. D’argembeau, A. & Van der Linden, M. Remembering pride and shame: self-enhancement and the phenomenology of autobiographical memory. Memory 16, 538–547 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  263. Berntsen, D., Hoyle, R. H. & Rubin, D. C. The Autobiographical Recollection Test (ART): a measure of individual differences in autobiographical memory. J. Appl. Res. Mem. Cogn. 8, 305–318 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  264. Luchetti, M., Rossi, N., Montebarocci, O. & Sutin, A. R. Continuity of phenomenology and (in)consistency of content of meaningful autobiographical memories. Conscious. Cogn. 42, 15–25 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  265. Rubin, D. C. Properties of autobiographical memories are reliable and stable individual differences. Cognition 210, 104583–104583 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  266. Rubin, D., Schrauf, R. & Greenberg, D. Stability in autobiographical memories. Memory 12, 715–721 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  267. American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edn (2022).

  268. Berntsen, D. & Nielsen, N. P. The reconstructive nature of involuntary autobiographical memories. Memory 30, 31–36 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  269. Brewin, C. R. Episodic memory, perceptual memory, and their interaction: foundations for a theory of posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychol. Bull. 140, 69–97 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  270. Bisby, J. A., Burgess, N. & Brewin, C. R. Reduced memory coherence for negative events and its relationship to posttraumatic stress disorder. Curr. Dir. Psychol. 29, 267–272 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  271. Foa, E. B. & Riggs, D. S. Posttraumatic stress disorder following assault: theoretical considerations and empirical findings. Curr. Dir. Psychol. 4, 61–65 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  272. Levine, B., Svoboda, E., Hay, J. F., Winocur, G. & Moscovitch, M. Aging and autobiographical memory: dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval. Psychol. Aging 17, 677–689 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  273. Grilli, M. D. & Sheldon, S. Autobiographical event memory and aging: older adults get the gist. Trends Cogn. Sci. 26, 1079–1089 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  274. Renoult, L. et al. Personal semantics: is it distinct from episodic and semantic memory? An electrophysiological study of memory for autobiographical facts and repeated events in honor of Shlomo Bentin. Neuropsychologia 83, 242–256 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  275. Holland, A. C., Addis, D. R. & Kensinger, E. A. The neural correlates of specific versus general autobiographical memory construction and elaboration. Neuropsychologia 49, 3164–3177 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  276. Barzykowski, K. & Moulin, C. Are involuntary autobiographical memory and déjà vu natural products of memory retrieval? Behav. Brain Sci. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22002035 (2022).

  277. Berntsen, D. The unbidden past: involuntary autobiographical memories as a basic mode of remembering. Curr. Dir. Psychol. 19, 138–142 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  278. Berntsen, D. Involuntary autobiographical memories and their relation to other forms of spontaneous thoughts. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 376, 20190693 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  279. Finnbogadóttir, H. & Berntsen, D. Involuntary and voluntary mental time travel in high and low worriers. Memory 19, 625–640 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  280. Mace, J. H., Atkinson, E., Moeckel, C. H. & Torres, V. Accuracy and perspective in involuntary autobiographical memory. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 25, 20–28 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  281. Berntsen, D. & Rubin, D. C. The reappearance hypothesis revisited: recurrent involuntary memories after traumatic events and in everyday life. Mem. Cogn. 36, 449–460 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. T. Enns, F. M. Götz and C. Cocquyt for insights on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Victoria Wardell & Daniela J. Palombo

Authors
  1. Victoria Wardell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniela J. Palombo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

V.W. wrote the initial draft of the manuscript with input from D.J.P. The authors contributed equally to the conceptualization of the article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniela J. Palombo.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Reviews Psychology thanks Arnaud D’Argembeau, Burcu Kaya Kiziloz and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wardell, V., Palombo, D.J. Stability and malleability of emotional autobiographical memories. Nat Rev Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-024-00312-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-024-00312-1

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing