Retrieval-induced forgetting is associated with increased positivity when imagining the future

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology : QJEP
Saskia GieblRobert A Bjork

Abstract

People often think of themselves and their experiences in a more positive light than is objectively justified. Inhibitory control processes may promote this positivity bias by modulating the accessibility of negative thoughts and episodes from the past, which then limits their influence in the construction of imagined future events. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the correlation between retrieval-induced forgetting and the extent to which individuals imagine positive and negative episodic future events. First, we measured performance on a task requiring participants to imagine personal episodic events (either positive or negative), and then we correlated that measure with retrieval-induced forgetting. As predicted, individuals who exhibited higher levels of retrieval-induced forgetting imagined fewer negative episodic future events than did individuals who exhibited lower levels of retrieval-induced forgetting. This finding provides new insight into the possible role of retrieval-induced forgetting in autobiographical memory.

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Citations

Jul 2, 2016·Cognition & Emotion·Elvira García-Bajos, Malen Migueles
Mar 24, 2006·Acta Psychologica·Rolf ReberMara Tiberini
Jan 25, 2018·The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology : QJEP·L MarshC Loveday
Oct 4, 2018·Cognition & Emotion·Simon Nørby
Apr 6, 2019·Frontiers in Psychology·Yuichi ItoJun Kawaguchi
Oct 13, 2017·Frontiers in Psychology·Elvira García-BajosAlaitz Aizpurua
Aug 10, 2021·Frontiers in Psychology·Alaitz AizpuruaAinara Aranberri

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