Valence influences on episodic memory : a cognitive processing account
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Psychology, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Alaifan, Nada
issued: 2025-10-21T21:22:44Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The assumption that memory is superior for emotional events is widespread and appears in most introductory psychology textbooks as well as in the popular media. However, the evidence from episodic memory research remains mixed, which leaves uncertainty as to how emotions influence memory and when emotional enhancement effects are likely to occur. My dissertation consisted of a meta-analysis along with three large-scale experiments, using memory tests that varied by the extent to which they relied on integrative/environmentally-driven versus elaborative/self-initiated processing (Craik, 1983,1986): Experiment 1 focused on old/new recognition of valenced and neutral pictures, Experiment 2 used associative recognition of randomly-paired valenced and neutral pictures, and Experiment 3 used free recall to assess memory for valenced and neutral pictures. The main findings from my meta-analysis and from my three large-scale experiments, validate the common belief that emotional events are remembered better than neutral ones, validating also more specific assumptions that the emotional enhancement effect is larger for negative than for positive pictures, larger in free recall than in recognition memory, and also larger after a long retention interval than a short one. My meta-analysis and experimental work were guided by a novel theoretical account I call Emotional Events Interrupt-Processing Augment (EEI/PA) theory. The theory provides a cognitive-processing explanation of how valence influences episodic memory for emotional events. The EEI/PA theory predicted the main findings from my meta-analysis, as well as those of my experiments, all of which tested the EEI/PAâs core assumption: that valence influences encoding-phase accommodative/elaborative processing, but not assimilative/integrative processing. My dissertation demonstrates that the EEI/PA theory can completely explain the findings based on the influence of valence, like arousal-based theories have been used to ex…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/92687
note: VALENCE INFLUENCES ON EPISODIC MEMORY: A COGNITIVE PROCESSING ACCOUNT by Nada Alaifan A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Psychology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2025 © Nada Alaifan, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Valence Influences on Episodic Memory: A cognitive Processing Account submitted by Nada Alaifan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Examining Committee: Peter Graf, Professor, Psychology, UBC Supervisor Daniela Palombo, Associate Professor, Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Joelle LeMoult, Associate Professor, Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Nancy Sin, Associate Professor, Psychology, UBC University Examiner Yann Cornil, Associate Professor, Sauder School of Business, UBC University Examiner Kimberly Chiew, Associate Professor, Psychology, University of Denver External Examiner iii Abstract The assumption that memory is superior for emotional events is widespread and appears in most introductory psychology textbooks as well as in the popular media. However, the evidence from episodic memory research remains mixed, which leaves uncertainty as to how emotions influence memory and when emotional enhancement effects are likely to occur. My dissertation consisted of a meta-analysis along with three large-scale experiments, using memory tests that varied by the extent to which they relied on integrative/environmentally-driven versus elaborative/self-initiated processing (Craik, 1983,1986): Experiment 1 focused on old/new recognition of valenced and neutral pictures, Experiment 2 used associative recognition of randomly-paired valenced and neutral pictures, and Experiment 3 used free recall to asses…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0450516
language: eng
degree discipline: Psychology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Graf, Peter (Professor of psychology)
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/92687