Examining Emotion and Ease of Recall for Life Story Memories in Young Adults

Life stories are narratives that use autobiographical memories to shape personal identity. This study investigated how emotional valence and ease of recall may change over time. Participants were asked to recall ten life story memories in two interviews held three weeks apart. Participants provided ratings of emotional valence and ease of recall for each memory. A significant difference was found in emotional valence between Session 1 (M = 3.159, SD = .772) and Session 2 (M = 2.905, SD = .788), t(68) = 2.734, p < .01, with Session 1 memories rated as significantly more negative (M = 1.812, SD = 1.427) than those in Session 2 (M = 1.275, SD = 1.316), t(68) = 3.232, p < .01. Furthermore, negative memories were more frequent in the last five Session 1 memories (M = 0.986, SD = 0.866) than in all of Session 2 memories (First Five: M = 0.652, SD = .783; Last Five: M = 0.623, SD = .892), F(3, 204) = 3.663, p < .05. For ease of recall, the first five memories in both sessions (Session 1: M = 5.684, SD = 0.806; Session 2: M = 5.612, SD = 0.963) were significantly easier to recall than the last five in both sessions (Session 1: M = .214, SD = 1.128; Session 2: M = 5.136, SD = 1.080), F(2.498, 169.864) = 7.369, p < .001. Overall, these findings suggest participants recalled more accessible memories first, with negative memories being harder to retrieve as sessions progressed.