Putting Emotional Memories in Context: The Constructionist Model of Emotional Memory

Cognitive psychologists have long been interested in the intersection of emotion and memory given that the emotions associated with a stimulus affect its memorability. Theoretical perspectives within cognitive science have guided research on how affective dimensions such as valence and arousal impact aspects of memory such as accuracy, subjective vividness, consolidation, and retrieval. Here we argue that well-established theories of emotion from affective science represent a fruitful source of ideas whose implications for episodic memory have not yet been thoroughly investigated. In the current paper, we propose a model of emotional memory inspired by psychological constructionist theories of emotion that builds upon existing perspectives in this area while generating several novel hypotheses and avenues of investigation. Following psychological constructionism, we conceive of emotions as emergent phenomena constructed when perceivers use conceptual knowledge to make sense of affective sensations in context. The Constructionist Model of Emotional Memory (CMEM) highlights new directions for future emotional memory research, such as investigating the mnemonic consequences of conceptual emotion knowledge, and considering the effects of variability in emotion construction at the situational, individual, and cultural levels.