Forget about the future: effects of thought suppression on memory for imaginary emotional episodes. Issue 1 (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ryckman, Nathan A.; Addis, Donna Rose; Latham, Andrew J.; Lambert, Anthony J.
• Is Part Of: Cognition and emotion. Volume 32:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 200
• Page End: 206
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: Memory -- forgetting -- think/no-think -- emotion -- imagined future events; Cognition -- Periodicals; Emotions and cognition -- Periodicals; 155.413
• DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2016.1276049
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-9931

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Whether intentional suppression of an unpleasant or unwanted memory reduces the ability to recall that memory subsequently is a contested issue in contemporary memory research. Building on findings that similar processes are recruited when individuals remember the past and imagine the future, we measured the effects of thought suppression on memory for imagined future scenarios. Thought suppression reduced the ability to recall emotionally negative scenarios, but not those that were emotionally positive. This finding suggests that intentionally avoiding thoughts about emotionally negative episodes may inhibit representations of those memories, progressively reducing their availability to recall.