Organization of emotional memories in autobiographical memory

AIM: The author presents a new methodological approach to directed cued recall which point out the organization of emotional memories in autobiographical memory. RESULTS: This approach gave opportunity to show connections between type of cues and attributes of recall memories in a group of 40 healthy persons. CONCLUSIONS: The research proved that there exists a tendency to recall mostly positive memories in reaction to positive cues, negative memories in reaction to negative cues, while the ambivalent cues caused recollection of mostly positive feelings although with a significant number of negative remembrances. What is more, experiments indicated that respondents' reminiscences were recalled in the shortest time when the cue was positive, in the longest time when the cue was ambivalent. Moreover, the largest number of remembrances was generated in response to positive cues.