Have you ever wondered if you really locked your car or if you simply imagined doing so, forcing you to retrace your steps to make sure ? The ability to differentiate whether we imagined or performed an action is a function of our source memory, which is a necessary cognitive process in everyday decision making. In order to recall a memory, our brain quickly checks that the associated information that comes to mind belongs to this memory, and it attributes its source: does this information was obtained in a dream, was imagined, was really perceived, or was it given by this person or this other person?
Studies in the literature regarding the performance of source memory are controversial and rely on very different methodologies to study it. Also, they mainly include only groups of young and old adults, without taking into account middle-aged adults. Thus, the aim of this research was to study the effects of emotional valence of stimuli on source memory with a source monitoring task administered to three age groups (young adults vs. middle-age adults vs. Older adults). Each age group included ten participants (five women and five men). During the study phase, a series of 60 names of different valences (positive vs. negative vs. neutral) were presented to the participants. For half of the names presented, the participants then had to imagine them (imaginative condition), and for the other half, the participants then had to see a photograph (perceptual condition). Next, participants were asked to rate the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the perceived or imagined image. A word list including the words from the study phase was presented with new words, in a delayed incidental recognition phase. Participants were asked to indicate whether they recognized the words, and then they were asked to attribute the source of each (perceived in picture vs. imagined mentally vs. don’t know). Psychometric tests were also administered (the MoCA, BREF, Stroop, WAIS Code subtest, and ERQ). These tests were used to monitor the level of each participant in order to select subjects for this study. Also their results were used for future, larger-scale research. However, performance on the ERQ was used to study a potential link with differences in source memory performance. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) consisted of ten questions assessing two strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Cognitive reappraisal is used to reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions and psychological well-being caused by the situation. Expressive suppression is used to inhibit the expression of emotions to withhold emotional states to others.
The results of this study show that the valence of the words or the age of the participants does not cause differences in source memory performance. Nor does age lead to a preference for one emotional regulation strategy over another. Therefore, this work contradicts the results of many studies (El Haj & Allain, 2012; Robin et al., 2018; Kensinger et al., 2007). This may be justified by the limitations of this study such as the organization to meet the participants during the health situation of Covid, the one-week delay between the study phase and the recognition phase, or the small size of our sample. In conclusion, source memory is essential for decision making, and can be an issue in the daily life of elderly people or people with a pathology, whether psychiatric, neurodegenerative, chronic, and so on. Thus, the study of source memory in relation to emotions should be deepened in future ecological research, taking into account middle-aged people.
5 words/ expressions I have learned with their translation in french :
- unpleasentness = déplaisant
- To withhold = retenir
- Sample = échantillon
- Controversal = controversé
- Reappraisal = réévaluation
Bibliography :
El Haj, M., & Allain, P. (2012). Relations entre contrôle de la source en mémoire épisodique et fonctionnement exécutif dans le vieillissement normal. Gériatrie et Psychologie Neuropsychiatrie du Vieillissement, 10(2), 197-205. https//doi.org/10.1684/pnv.2012.0342
Robin, F., Cébron, T., Letellier, M., & Nizard, J. (2018). The effects of emotional content on source monitoring in fibromyalgia patients. Journal of General Psychology, 145(4), 392-414. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.2018.1494536
Kensinger, E.A., O’Brien, J.L., Swanberg, K., Garoff-Eaton, R. J., & Schacter, D. L. (2007). The effects of emotional content on reality-monitoring performance in young and older adults. Psychology and aging, 22 (4), 752-764. https://doi.org/10.1037/08827974.22.4.752