Reflective rumination mediates the effects of neuroticism upon the fading affect bias in autobiographical memory

Abstract

ABSTRACT Across three studies we explored neuroticism in relation to the fading affect bias,which refers to the greater fading of unpleasant compared to pleasant emotionsin autobiographical memory. With increasing neuroticism, there was an increasein the frequency of unpleasant event rehearsal, which was then linked to lessfading of negative affect. Study 2 showed this effect was specific to reflectiverehearsal, with Study 3 clarifying the mediating effect was due to increasedfrequency of the reflective sub-type of rumination. We offer new insights intothe effects of neuroticism on autobiographical memory and suggest thatreflective rumination can be linked to retention of negative affect inindividuals with high neuroticism, which can be interpreted as indicative ofmaladaptive emotional processing.