The disconnect between metamemory and memory for emotional images

Emotional information is reliably predicted to be remembered better than neutral information, and this has been found for words, images, and facial expressions. However, many studies find that these judgments of learning (JOLs) are not predictive of memory performance (e.g. [Hourihan, K. L. (2020). Misleading emotions: Judgments of learning overestimate recognition of negative and positive emotional images. <i>Cognition and Emotion,</i> 34(4), 771–782. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2019.1682972]). The present study investigates and rules out numerous potential causes for this discrepancy between memory predictions and performance, including (1) reactivity to making JOLs, (2) idiosyncrasies of specific images used, (3), type of memory test, and (4) effects of fluency. Three additional experiments investigate whether JOLs can become more predictive of memory performance, either by experience with the task or by manipulating prior beliefs about memory for emotional images. In all experiments, we found the same effect: Emotional images are inaccurately predicted to be remembered better than neutral images. The results suggest that emotion is used as a heuristic for learning, resulting in low metamnemonic accuracy for emotional stimuli.

已有可靠研究表明，情绪性信息相较于中性信息更易被记住，且该结论在词汇、图像以及面部表情三类材料中均得到验证。然而，诸多研究发现，此类学习判断（Judgments of Learning, JOLs）并无法有效预测记忆成绩，例如：Hourihan, K. L. (2020) 在其研究《Misleading emotions: Judgments of learning overestimate recognition of negative and positive emotional images》中便指出，学习判断会高估正负情绪性图像的再认成绩，载于《Cognition and Emotion》第34卷第4期，第771-782页，DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2019.1682972。本研究针对记忆预测与实际成绩间的这一偏差，对诸多潜在诱因展开了调查并逐一排除，涵盖：(1) 进行学习判断时的反应性效应；(2) 所使用特定图像的个体特异性；(3) 记忆测试类型；(4) 流畅性效应。后续开展的三项实验进一步探究，通过任务经验或是调整个体对情绪性图像记忆的先验信念，能否提升学习判断对记忆成绩的预测效度。所有实验均得到了一致的结果：被试会错误地预判情绪性图像比中性图像更易被记住。研究结果表明，个体将情绪作为学习判断的启发式线索，这导致情绪性刺激的元记忆准确性偏低。