Positive affect amplifies integration within episodic memories in the laboratory and the real world

Abstract

Emotional events hold a privileged place in our memories, differing in accuracy and structure from memories for neutral experiences. Although much work has focused on the pronounced differences in memory for negative experiences, there is growing evidence that positive events may lead to more holistic, or integrated, memories. However, it is unclear whether these affect-driven changes in memory structure, which have been found in highly controlled laboratory environments, extend to real-world episodic memories. We ran experiments that assessed memory for experiences created in the laboratory (Experiment 1) and, using smartphones, memories for everyday experiences (Experiment 2). We complement these design innovations with a novel analysis approach to model memory accuracy and integration in both settings. Consistent with past findings, emotional events were subjectively remembered more strongly. These studies also revealed that features of more positive events were indeed more integrated within memory, both in the laboratory and the real world. These effects were specific to participants’ emotional responses to the events during encoding rather than general emotional states at the time of retrieval, and reflected a general increase in integration between multiple memory features. Together, these results demonstrate robust differences in memory for positive events, introduce a novel measure of memory integration, and highlight the importance of assessing the impact of emotion on memory beyond the laboratory.