Effectiveness of the level of personal relevance of visual autobiographical stimuli in the induction of positive emotions in young and older adults: pilot study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: The ability to retrieve specific memories is a cognitive and emotional protective factor. Among the most effective techniques to generate autobiographical memories is the use of audiovisual stimuli, particularly images. Developing and improving techniques that facilitate the generation of such memories could be highly effective in the prevention of depressive symptoms, especially in the elderly population. The aim of the present study is to examine how the level of personal relevance of pictures as autobiographical memory cues to induce positive emotions may affect an individual's emotion regulation. Methods: The participants, 120 older adults aged 65 and over and 120 young adults aged between 18 and 35, of both sexes and without depressive symptoms, will be induced to a negative mood state by means of viewing a film clip. Following the negative mood induction, the participants will be shown positive images according to experimental group to which they were randomly assigned (high personal relevance: personal autobiographical photographs; medium personal relevance: pictures of favourite locations associated with specific positive autobiographical memories; and low personal relevance: positive images from the International Affective Picture System). We will analyse the differences in subjective (responses to questionnaires) and objectives measures (EEG signal, heart rate variability and electrodermal activity) between the groups before and after the induction of negative affect and following the recall of positive memories. Discussion: The use of images associated with specific positive autobiographical memories may be an effective input for inducing positive mood states, which has potentially important implications for their use as a cognitive behavioural technique to treat emotional disorders, such as depression, which are highly prevalent among older adults.

Changing memories by interference: the effect of emotional dimensions in reconsolidation of episodic memories

“…To the extent that this process interferes with the recollection of past, nonnegative life experiences (which has been found feasible via direct stress induction; Schwabe & Wolf, 2010), it could contribute to a predominance of negatively charged (or even traumatic) ones in a person's consciousness. Given that recollected experiences are potent mood determinants (Grol et al, 2017;Fernandez et al, 2020), such arousing, negative experiences could, in principle, affect a person's current mood directly, as well indirectly through reconsolidation and interference with previous experiences.…”

“…There is ongoing debate about the processes that account for the impact of memories of events perceived as traumatic, upon the maintenance, clarity, and accuracy of previously registered episodic memories. Furthermore, the content of recollected real-life episodes can regulate mood and consequently affect emotional well-being (Grol, Vanlessen, & De Raedt, 2017;Fernandez, Ros, Sanchez-Reolid, Ricarte, & Latorre, 2020).…”

Emotion induction in young and old persons on watching movie segments: Facial expressions reflect subjective ratings

“…electrocardiogram, blood volume, skin conductance) [ 17 ]. Likewise, emotional states can be induced using pictures [ 18 , 19 ], text passages [ 20 ], or videos [ 21 , 22 ]. Some evidence exists that visual stimuli are more effective elicitors of discrete emotions than verbal stimuli or imaginative techniques [ 19 ].…”