Temporal memory for threatening events encoded in a haunted house

Bibliographic Data

ID7149898
AuthorsKatelyn G Cliver (0000-0003-4945-0742, Drexel University), David F Gregory (0000-0001-8860-9766, Temple University), Steven A Martinez (Temple University), William J Mitchell (0000-0002-1872-8791, Temple University), Joanne E Stasiak (University of California), Samantha S Reisman (Brown University), Chelsea Helion (0000-0002-3149-1493, Temple University), Vishnu P Murty (0000-0002-1360-3156, Temple University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume39
Issue1
Pages65-81
Publication date2025-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCognition & Emotion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-9931 • E-ISSN: 1464-0600
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02699931.2024.2338962
PMID38625561
OpenAlexW4394843026
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited34

Despite the salient experience of encoding threatening events, these memories are prone to distortions and often non-veridical from encoding to recall. Further, threat has been shown to preferentially disrupt the binding of event details and enhance goal-relevant information. While extensive work has characterised distinctive features of emotional memory, research has not fully explored the influence threat has on temporal memory, a process putatively supported by the binding of event details into a temporal context. Two primary competing hypotheses have been proposed; that threat can impair or enhance temporal memory. We analysed two datasets to assess temporal memory for an in-person haunted house experience. In study 1, we examined the temporal structure of memory by characterising memory contiguity in free recall as a function of individual levels of heart rate as a proxy of threat. In study 2, we replicated marginal findings of threat-related increases in memory contiguity found in study 1. We extended these findings by showing threat-related increases in recency discriminations, an explicit test of temporal memory. Together, these findings demonstrate that threat enhances temporal memory regarding free recall structure and during explicit memory judgments

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Context-dependent memory · Contiguity · Episodic memory · Explicit memory · Free recall · Recall · Reconstructive memory · Computer Science · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Memory Processes and Influences · Neuroscience · Psychology

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