Positivity Bias in Autobiographical Memories Related to COVID-19 : A Comparison of Young and Older Adults

The positivity bias refers to the phenomenon where older adults, compared to young adults, are more likely to show a preference for positive stimuli over negative stimuli in cognitive processing, including attention and memory. Previous studies have confirmed this bias using various tasks involving words, photographs, pictures, stories, and autobiographical events. Additionally, public event-related memory tasks have been used to assess this bias. This study aimed to investigate the positivity bias in autobiographical memories related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 111 individuals, comprising 60 young adults and 51 older adults. They recalled personal events related to COVID-19 during the outbreak, vaccine administration, and the emergence of variants. They estimated future trajectory of the pandemic. Participants also rated the intensity of emotions associated with these events and their future perceptions. Results revealed that older adults reported higher levels of COVID-19 stress with more negative emotions during the outbreak and in their future perceptions than young adults. These findings do not support the presence of a positivity bias. This study discusses implications and, research limitations. It also, provides suggestions for further research.