False memory for positive and negative life events. The role of mental imagery

A false memory appears when a person recalls memories of events that did not actually happen to him or her. The present study focused on situational and personal determinants of spontaneous false memories. Specifically, we aimed to investigate the role of emotional valence of an event, as well as the individual differences in mental imagery in evocation false memory. Three videos in which related details were not shown but were presented during a recognition task were used to induce spontaneous false memories. The three videos are different in terms of valence, reflecting positive, negative and neutral events. A scale for measuring mental imagery was also used. A sample of 132 participants completed the study. The results showed that the positive event lead to a higher level of false memory than the negative event. Moreover, the participants differ in their susceptibility to false memories based on the level of imagery, but the interaction between the emotional valence of the event and mental imagery is not significant. The results are discussed from the perspective of their legal and clinical implications