A density explanation of valence asymmetries in recognition memory

The density hypothesis states that positive information is more similar than negative information, resulting in higher density of positive information in mental representations. The present research applies the density hypothesis to recognition memory to explain apparent valence asymmetries in recog...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memory & cognition 2015-08, Vol.43 (6), p.896-909
Main Authors: Alves, Hans, Unkelbach, Christian, Burghardt, Juliane, Koch, Alex S., Krüger, Tobias, Becker, Vaughn D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect - physiology
Asymmetry
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bias
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive Psychology
Emotions
False alarms
Female
Humans
Hypotheses
Information processing
Language
Male
Memory
Perceptions
Psychology
Recognition (Psychology) - physiology
Young Adult
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Summary:The density hypothesis states that positive information is more similar than negative information, resulting in higher density of positive information in mental representations. The present research applies the density hypothesis to recognition memory to explain apparent valence asymmetries in recognition memory, namely, a recognition advantage for negative information. Previous research explained this negativity advantage on the basis of valence-induced affect. We predicted that positive information’s higher density impairs recognition performance. Two old–new word recognition experiments tested whether differential density between positive and negative stimuli creates a negativity advantage in recognition memory, over and above valence-induced affect. In Experiment 1 , participants better discriminated negative word stimuli (i.e., less false alarms) and showed a response bias towards positive words. Regression analyses showed the asymmetry to be function of density and not of valence. Experiment 2 varied stimulus density orthogonal to valence. Again, discriminability and response bias were a function of density and not of valence. We conclude that the higher density of positive information causes an apparent valence asymmetry in recognition memory.
ISSN:0090-502X
1532-5946
DOI:10.3758/s13421-015-0515-5