Memories

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zane Edward Faulkner ◽  
Echo Elizabeth Leaver

The fallibility of memory has important implications for various disciplinary fields, as well as societal interests. Research on false memory abounds in terms of the ability of researchers to implant memories for plausible and highly implausible negative events. The extant literature does not currently answer the question of whether memories for positive events can be implanted. Moreover, previous research has attempted, with mixed success, to discriminate between true and false memories employing different objective and subjective measures. Currently, there is still no conclusive way to distinguish between true and false memories. The present study expanded upon the current deficits in the research literature by inducing both positive and negative false memory events in participants. Physiological measures (i.e., skin conductance, heart rate, electromyography, and pulse plethysmography) were employed in an effort to discriminate between participants’ true and false memories. Results indicated that positive and negative events can be implanted at an impressively high rate and with a very simple manipulation. False memories were found to exhibit a greater arousal pattern than true memories and, specifically with electromyography, positive false memories elicited greater arousal patterns than positive true memories.

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantine Sedikides ◽  
John J. Skowronski

Some researchers assert that the psychological impact of negative information is more powerful than that of positive information. This assertion is qualified in the domain of human memory, in which (a) positive content is often favored (in the strength of memories for real stimuli or events and in false-memory generation) over negative content and (b) the affect prompted by memories of positive events is more temporally persistent than the affect prompted by memories of negative events. We suggest that both of these phenomena reflect the actions of self-motives (i.e., self-protection and self-enhancement), which instigate self-regulatory activity and self-relevant processes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schäfer ◽  
Peter Sedlmeier

people often report changes in emotional arousal when listening to their preferred music. Can this subjective impression be related to objective physiological measures? And if so, does preference induce arousal or could arousal also influence preference? In Study 1, participants listened to 18 pieces of music and rated the strength of preference as well as their experienced emotional arousal for each piece. In addition, physiological arousal was measured via heart rate, skin conductance, and respiration rate. Results showed that subjective reports about emotional arousal were much more closely connected to the strength of music preference than were physiological measures such as heart rate or skin conductance. The two types of arousal (emotional, physiological) were not substantially associated with each other. In Study 2, we manipulated physiological arousal while one group of participants watched their faces in a mirror during music listening. Effects on music preference differed: For a given piece of unknown music, higher induced arousal yielded higher preference ratings. However, this result only held when the music was not too complex. The results indicated that arousal was not solely a consequence of listening to preferred music but might also be a potent determinant of music preference.


1983 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 759-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Borgeat ◽  
Jean Goulet

This study was to measure eventual psychophysiological changes resulting from auditory subliminal activation or deactivation suggestions. 18 subjects were alternately exposed to a control situation and to 25-dB activating and deactivating suggestions masked by a 40-dB white noise. Physiological measures (EMG, heart rate, skin-conductance levels and responses, and skin temperature) were recorded while subjects listened passively to the suggestions, during a stressing task that followed and after that task. Multivariate analysis of variance showed a significant effect of the activation subliminal suggestions during and following the stressing task. This result is discussed as indicating effects of consciously unrecognized perceptions on psychophysiological responses.


2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Edmonds ◽  
Derek T.Y. Mann ◽  
Gershon Tenenbaum ◽  
Chris M. Janelle

An exploratory investigation is reported to test the utility of Kamata, Tenenbaum, and Hanin’s (2002) probabilistic model in determining individual affect-related performance zones (IAPZs) in a simulated car-racing task. Three males completed five separate time-trials of a simulated racing task by which self-reported affective states (i.e., arousal and pleasure) and physiological measures of arousal (i.e., heart rate and skin conductance) were integrated with performance and measured throughout each trial. Results revealed each performer maintained unique IAPZs for each of the perceived and physiological measures in terms of the probability and range of achieving each zone. The practical applications of this approach are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Mirandola ◽  
Francesca Pazzaglia

Emotional valence and working memory ability (WM) affect false memories’ production in adults. Whereas a number of studies have investigated the role of emotional valence in children’s tendency to produce spontaneous false memories, individual differences in WM have not been previously included. In the current article, we were interested in investigating whether emotion and WM would interact in influencing the propensity to incur inferential false memories for scripted events. Ninety-eight typically developing children (first-, third-, and eighth- graders) were administered the Emotional false memory paradigm – allowing to study false memories for negative, positive, and neutral events – and a WM task. Results showed that regardless of age, valence influenced false memories’ production, such that positive events protected against incurring distortions. Furthermore, WM interacted with valence, such that children with higher WM abilities produced fewer false memories for negative events. Concerning confidence judgments, only the youngest group of children claimed to be overconfident when committing false memories for negative and neutral events. Results are discussed in terms of the role of individual differences in higher cognitive abilities interacting with the emotional content of to-be-remembered events.


1971 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Marks ◽  
Pedro Marset ◽  
John Boulougouris ◽  
John Huson

SYNOPSISEach of 16 phobic patients was treated by six sessions of flooding and six sessions of desensitization in a balanced crossover design. Clinical and physiological measurements were made before treatment and after the sixth and 12th sessions of treatment. Physiological measures were made of increase in heart rate and in spontaneous fluctuations and maximum change in level of skin conductance during neutral and phobic imagery. Patients estimated subjective anxiety during the imagery. Heart rate, skin conductance, and subjective anxiety ratings all differentiated significantly between phobic and neutral imagery. Increase in autonomic activity during imagery was roughly proportional to the intensity of the imagery in a phobic hierarchy. Autonomic changes during imagery imagined in silence did not produce autonomic changes considerably different from those during imagery stimulated by a running commentary from the therapist. Clinical ratings correlated significantly with measures of skin conductance, so that autonomic measures can be useful indicators of change after treatment. However, heart rate, skin conductance, and subjective anxiety during brief periods of imagery did not usually correlate significantly with one another. This supports the view of emotion as a System of responses linked imperfectly across several Systems.


1973 ◽  
Vol 122 (570) ◽  
pp. 567-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac M. Marks ◽  
J. Huson

Phobic imagery is used extensively in the treatment of phobic disorders by psychological means. The physiological and subjective accompaniments of such imagery are thus of some importance for both treatment and assessment. An earlier report (Marks et al., 1971a) described a standardized method of assessment of phobic imagery and results in one trial of 16 phobic patients. To date the method has been used in the assessment of 77 phobic patients before and after treatment in 6 different studies. This report summarizes our experience with it and its sensitivity to clinical changes. The main finding was that subjective report was a more consistent discriminator between phobic and neutral images than were measures of heart rate or skin conductance. Nevertheless physiological measures were often useful indicators of clinical changes.


2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1127-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Estelle Campenni ◽  
Edward J. Crawley ◽  
Michael E. Meier

The effects of ambient odor (lavender, neroli or placebo) and suggestions related to the effects of an odor (relaxing, stimulating or none) on mood were explored. Mood of 90 undergraduate women was assessed using physiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance) and the self-report Profile of Mood States questionnaire. Analysis indicated that physiological measures were influenced by suggestion in predictable directions. Relaxing odors yielded decreases in heart rate and skin conductance, with stimulating odors yielding the reverse effects under equivalent conditions. These data further support the notion that expectations play a significant role in mediating odor-evoked mood changes.


1965 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Eason ◽  
Ann Beardshall ◽  
Stanley Jaffee

Changes in performance and in four physiological measures during the course of a 1-hr. vigil and as a function of signal presentation rate were studied. Based on data obtained from six Ss during a total of 24 vigils, performance (% correct detections) and skin conductance decreased during the course of a vigil, heart rate remained constant, and neck tension level increased. There was no consistent tendency for Ss to perform at a higher level when signals were presented at a relatively fast rate than when presented at a slower rate. However, their performance was differentially affected by presentation rate, some performing better during the fast rate, some during the slow rate, and others showing no change. A positive relationship was found between the relative performance level manifested during the two rates (fast rate expressed relative to slow) and the relative magnitudes of skin conductance, heart rate, and neck tension level. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that variations in vigilance performance are in part determined by changes in activation level. The feasibility of recording physiological information in order to ascertain more accurately which factors are contributing to variations in performance in a given vigilance situation seems to have been demonstrated.


Author(s):  
Mitchell D. McDonald ◽  
Anne C. McLaughlin

Comfort drives purchasing decisions for the equipment we interact with each day. Though manufacturers would like to claim to provide the most comfort over their competitors, a quantifiable metric based on physiological responses does not exist. The current research project examined the potential relationship of physiological measures with an individual's subjective level of comfort and discomfort. Heart rate variability and skin conductance responses were collected in a controlled laboratory environment along with a behavioral measure, the number of times the seated position was adjusted. During a 20 minute seated trial participants provided periodic responses to their subjective levels of comfort and discomfort. Discomfort was predicted through an interaction of the seat type (padded or rigid) and the number of adjustments made during a trial. Comfort had no significant predictors. Results showed no predictive power of heart rate variability or skin conductance responses. These results point toward use of measures of discomfort, rather than comfort, and observation of behaviors while seated.


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