The relation of affective tone to the retention of experiences of daily life.
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Waters and Leeper concluded that intensity was positively related to retention, whereas valence was unrelated.
“Waters and Leeper (1936) were the first to include subject-rated intensity in their study of emotional effects on memory and concluded that intensity was positively related to retention, whereas valence was unrelated.”
From Emotional Intensity Predicts Autobiographical Memory Experience (2004) · cites this paper as Waters & Leeper, 1936
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Emotional Intensity Predicts Autobiographical Memory Experience
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“Rehearsal. A large number of studies have shown that high-intensity memories were thought or talked about (either explicitly or involuntarily) more often than were lowintensity memories (Berntsen, 1996, 1998; Cason, 1932; Waters & Leeper, 1936 ).”
BackgroundMood and memory: Evaluating the network theory of affect
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BackgroundDifferential change in affective intensity and the forgetting of unpleasant personal experiences.
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“For instance, study on university students’ abilities to recall the grades they obtained in various subjects during high schools generally showed that memory was best for experiences that were affectively pleasant, intermediate for experiences that are unpleasant, and worst for experiences that are neutral (Koch, 1930…”
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“A number of studies have demonstrated that high emotional arousal leads to increased ratings of vividness in memory retrieval (Berntsen, 2001 ; Bohanek, Fivush, & Walker, 2005 ; Reisberg, Heuer, McLean, & O'Shaughnessy, 1988 ) and increased retention of memories during a second testing session (Waters & Leeper, 1936 ).”
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“Emotional content can also directly influence involuntary reactivations of an event and therefore its long-term maintenance (Berntsen & Rubin, 2002; Waters & Leeper, 1936).”
BackgroundChildhood Memories Compared with Those of Adult Life
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- Authors
- Waters, R. H., & Leeper, R.
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Psychology
- Published
- 1936-04
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 203-215
- ISSN
- 0022-1015 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2031554298
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- emotional tone, emotional valence, memory retention, everyday experience, emotional arousal
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