The effect of emotional valence on nonbelieved memories

The phenomenon whereby people remember events that they know never happened is called “Nonbelieved memory” (NBM). Several studies have investigated the characteristics of NBMs by comparing them to typical (i.e., believed) memories (BMs). Although some phenomenological differences have been observed, NBMs are often experienced as “memory-like” despite the change in belief. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the characteristics of NBMs is influenced by the emotional valence of events, like BMs. Participants aged from 20 to 60 years (N = 220) were asked to describe an NBM, to explain the reason for belief change, and to rate its phenomenological characteristics. Whenever an NBM was retrieved, they also described an age-matched BM of the same valence so that the characteristics of both types of memories could be compared. The results showed that phenomenological ratings of NBMs and BMs are minimally influenced by their valence. Interestingly, an examination of emotional valence and intensity ratings at the time of the events and during retrieval revealed that the fading affect bias previously demonstrated for autobiographical memories was also apparent for NBMs.