The Role of Emotional Memory in Reappraising Negative Self-referent Thoughts

Reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that has been linked to positive emotional and health outcomes. However, the basic cognitive mechanisms underlying effectiveness of reappraisal remain understudied not well understood. To address this limitation, present study examined whether long-term memory processes, including accessibility, bias, overgeneral memory, are related individual differences in effectiveness. All participants (N = 101) completed a accessibility sentence completion task measure specificity, memories. Next, requesting them either attend or reappraise negative self-referent thoughts. The results linear regression models showed but specificity accounted for significant proportion variance reappraisal. Retrieval more memories was lower reductions mood. These findings suggest particularly may modulate downregulation emotions when implementing insights could be leveraged guide psychological treatments using techniques rely on successful use.