The contribution of trait negative affect and stress to recall for bodily states.
How does trait negative affect shape somatic memory of stressful events? We hypothesized that negative affect would impair accurate recall of one's own heart rate during stressful situations. Two bio-behavioral studies used a new paradigm to test retrospective visceral perception and assessed whether negative affective states experienced during aversive events (i.e., the Trier Stress Task-Time 1) would retrospectively shape recall of past heart rate (Time 2), even when accounting for actual heart rate at the time of each stressful event (Time 1). Results across both studies showed that individual differences in negative affect in response to a stressful task predicted visceral recollections, and those who experienced more negative affect were more inaccurate. Negative affect was associated with a tendency to remember visceral reactions as worse than they actually were.
Harvard University, Kennedy School, 79 JFK St., Cambridge, MA 02138, United States; Department of Psychology, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA 91750, United States. Electronic address: cma-kellams@laverne.edu.
Christine
C
Ma-Kellams
Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business Administration and Public Policy, California State University, Dominguez Hills, United States.
Lei
L
Lai
University of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, 1285 Franz Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, United States.
Shelley E
SE
Taylor
Harvard University, Kennedy School, 79 JFK St., Cambridge, MA 02138, United States.
Jennifer S
JS
Lerner
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
Performance; Psychophysiology; Retrospection; Stress