Abstract
Previous research has reported a positivity effect for explicit memory. However, age influences on the effects of emotional valence for implicit memory have not been investigated to date. The present study examines how emotional valence influences age differences for both explicit and implicit memory. In Experiment 1, 48 younger adults and 48 older adults encoded neutral words that were presented before either positive, negative, or neutral pictures. After encoding, the participants completed a free recall task. In Experiment 2, 27 younger adults and 30 older adults completed a word completion task after encoding using the same procedure as Experiment 1. Explicit memory in the negative condition was highest among the younger adults, and a positivity effect was observed among the older adults. Implicit memory for both the positive and negative conditions was higher than for the neutral condition for both age groups. These results suggest that the positivity effect occurs within intentional processes, which is supportive of a socio-emotional selectivity theory.
