Negative Hits Hit Different

Neuroimaging of memory reveals stronger striatal responses to Hits (encoded stimuli called old) vs. Correct Rejections (CRs: lures called new), possibly because remembering old items is rewarding. If so, then Hits should elicit higher valence ratings than CRs whether one is retrieving emotional or neutral memories. Alternatively, memory may interact with emotion such that while positive and neutral Hits drive valence up, negative Hits drive valence down (relative to negative CRs). We investigated this issue in 47 healthy participants who encoded negative, neutral, and positive pictures, completed a memory test, and then rated the emotions elicited by each picture. Three main analyses were conducted. First, because emotional experience may reflect beliefs more than objective accuracy, we examined valence in relationship to perceived oldness, comparing Hits and False Alarms (FAs; lures called old) to Misses (encoded stimuli called new) and CRs. Second, reflecting prior work, we examined valence for Hits, FAs, Misses, and CRs separately. Third, we investigated whether the impact of Hits and CRs on valence varied with confidence. Identical analyses examined arousal ratings. For neutral and positive pictures, valence was higher for Hits vs. CRs. By contrast, for negative pictures valence was lower for Hits vs. CRs. Arousal was consistently higher for Hits vs. CRs. Positive FAs also consistently elicited increased valence, and effects were stronger for high confidence memories. The impact of memory on subjective experience thus depends on the emotional nature of the memoranda: retrieving neutral and positive memories feels good, but retrieving negative memories feels bad.