Doorn, Yara van (2025) Effect of Memory Recall on Metamemory Judgments, Childhood Pleasantness, and the Mediating Role of Memory Valence. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
In recent decades, growing interest in traumatic memory has fueled debate over whether such memories can be repressed and later recovered; a controversy known as the recovered memory debate. This debate continues to shape clinical practice and public understanding, despite limited empirical consensus. The present study replicates and extends the work of Wessel et al. (2023) by investigating whether recalling few (four) versus many (twelve) childhood memories affects metamemory judgments and evaluations of childhood pleasantness. It was hypothesized that recalling twelve memories would be associated with higher perceived task difficulty, greater memory incompleteness and inaccessibility, stronger belief in specified and unspecified repression, and lower childhood pleasantness evaluations. In addition, it was expected that both positive and negative memory valence would mediate the relationship between recall condition and childhood pleasantness. In a controlled laboratory setting, 124 psychology students at the University of Groningen participated in structured interviews and completed online questionnaires. Contrary to expectations, recall condition had no significant effect on any of the outcome variables. These findings suggest that the number of childhood memories recalled does not, in and of itself, substantially influence metamemory judgments or childhood evaluations. Mediation analyses revealed that both negative and positive valence independently predicted childhood pleasantness, underscoring the role of affective content on childhood pleasantness evaluations. However, neither positive nor negative valence mediated the relationship between recall condition and childhood pleasantness. Taken together, these findings challenge earlier research and highlight the need for further investigation into how subjective experience, rather than memory quantity, shapes metamemory and autobiographical evaluations.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Wessel, J.P. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Forensic Psychology and Victimology (FP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Jun 2025 10:20 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Jun 2025 10:20 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5168 |
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