Negative Hits Hit Different

Neuroimaging of recognition memory reveals that the striatum responds more strongly to Hits (encoded stimuli recognized as old) vs. Correct Rejections (CRs: lures recognized as new), possibly because remembering old items is rewarding. If this is so, then Hits should elicit higher valence ratings than CRs for emotional and neutral stimuli. Alternatively, memory may interact with emotion such that while positive and neutral Hits drive valence up, negative Hits drive valence down (relative to CRs of the same type). We investigated this by analyzing data from 47 healthy participants who encoded negative, neutral, and positive pictures, completed a recognition memory test, and rated the emotions elicited by each picture. Valence ratings were higher for neutral and positive Hits vs. CRs but only positive FAs (FAs; falsely recognized lures) elicited higher valence ratings than CRs. Strikingly, negative Hits elicited lower valence ratings than negative CRs. The impact of memory on subjective experience thus varied: for neutral pictures, accurate memory enhanced valence; for positive pictures, perceived oldness (accurate or not) boosted valence; and for negative pictures, accurate memory reduced valence. The impact of memory retrieval on subjective experience thus depends on the emotional nature of the memoranda.