No Enhanced Recognition Memory, but Better Source Memory for Faces of Cheaters

Valence modulates source memory for faces

“…Know responses, in contrast, have not varied as a function of affective content (Kensinger & Corkin, 2003;Ochsner, 2000). Furthermore, consistent with the results of Buchner et al (2009), Doerksen and Shimamura (2001) found that free recall and source memory for the font color in which a word was presented were enhanced for emotional, in comparison with neutral, words, whereas old-new discrimination was not affected by valence (see also D'Argembeau & Van der Linden, 2004). There are also a number of other studies that are consistent with the assumption that source memory is enhanced for emotional material (Mather & Nesmith, 2008;Smith, Dolan, & Rugg, 2004) and especially for negative material (Kensinger & Corkin, 2003;Kensinger, O'Brien, Swanberg, Garoff-Eaton, & Schacter, 2007).…”

“…Consistent with these considerations, a series of experiments in our lab (Buchner, Bell, Mehl, & Musch, 2009; see Figure 1 for an illustration of the results) showed that source memory, but not old-new discrimination, is enhanced for faces of cheaters (for related results, see Chiappe et al, 2004). This is consistent with a functional perspective on human memory, in that information that is important from a fitness perspective is especially well remembered.…”

“…A priori, this seems to be a plausible domain-general explanation for the cheater advantage in source memory, given that it has previously been observed that rarity within an experiment can modulate memory for cheaters (Barclay, 2008). This alternative explanation has already been examined in Buchner et al (2009). In three of the four experiments reported in Buchner et al (2009), the degree to which the behavior was exceptional was manipulated.…”

“…This alternative explanation has already been examined in Buchner et al (2009). In three of the four experiments reported in Buchner et al (2009), the degree to which the behavior was exceptional was manipulated. In all the experiments, source memory for faces of cheaters was better than source memory for other faces, but memory was not affected by whether the behavioral descriptions were exceptional or ordinary.…”

“…In an attempt to resolve the conflicting findings, it has been suggested that emotional valence enhances the binding of details of the learning episode that are central to the emotional experience but impairs the strength of the association between the emotional event and background information that is irrelevant to the emotional meaning of the event (Kensinger, 2007;Mather, 2007). According to these considerations, an important difference between the study of Buchner et al (2009) and most of the previous studies in which valence and source memory have been examined is that Buchner et al (2009) assessed source memory for valent contexts, rather than for contexts that were irrelevant to the valence dimension (e.g., location or font color; but see Anderson & Shimamura, 2005;Smith et al, 2004). If source memory is generally enhanced for valent contexts "solve" the adaptive problem of avoiding exploitation in social exchange (Chiappe et al, 2004;Mealey et al, 1996;Oda, 1997).…”