Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The present research was designed to examine whether sex and/or emotional \nvalence pl aya role in the cognitive consequences (e.g., memory) of expressive \nsuppression. Seventy-two (36 male and 36 female) undergraduates were randomly \nassigned to either a control or expressive suppression condition, and were asked to watch \nsilent film clips intended to elicit amusement and disgust. While watching each film, \nparticipants listened to sixteen nonemotional words. After each film, participants were \nasked to answer questions about wha t they had seen in the film (visual memory), to recall \nas many words as they could (auditory recall memory), and to select from a list any \nwords that they had heard during the previous film clip (auditory recognition memory). \nWith regard to the effects of expressive suppression on visual memory, results \nindicated a 3-way interaction between condition, sex and film emotion: Men performed \nmore poorly than women on the visual memory test after watching both the amusing and \ndisgusting films in the control condition, and when watching the amusing film in the \nexpressive suppression condition. However, men in the expressive suppression condition \nperformed better than women after watching the disgusting film. In terms of the effects of \nexpressive suppression on auditory memory (recognition and recall), a condition x film \nemotion interaction indicated that there was no difference in auditory memory for the \nexpressive suppression and control conditions when watching the amusing film, but that \nthe expressive suppression group showed poorer auditory memory than the control group \nfor words presented during the disgusting film. Moreover, a ma in effect of sex on \nauditory memory suggested that men recalled and recognized more words than women \nacross conditions. Taken together, these findings suggest that both sex and the emotional valence of \nfilms may influence the effects of expressive suppression on memory. Results will be \ndiscussed in the context of previous literature concerning the effects of expressive \nsuppression on cognition.
Author: Yingfang Zhu
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1509956676