Stability and malleability of emotional autobiographical memories

Despite the vivid and convincing detail with which people can recollect emotional experiences from their past, emotional memory is malleable. As time passes, the memories of one’s best and worst experiences change as content is forgotten or sometimes added to the original memory. Still, people rely on emotional memories to represent their experiences across a diverse range of situations, from getting to know someone to psychotherapy. In this Review, we explore how and why emotional autobiographical memories — memories of one’s personal past — persist and transform over time, situating these findings in the framework of memory malleability. We highlight the crucial role of narrative in shaping autobiographical memories, which enables people to make sense of and extract meaning from the most salient lessons in their past. We also consider how the malleability of emotional memory shapes cognitive processes beyond remembering the past, such as imagining the future, and conclude by outlining important future directions for the field. Emotional memories can be vivid and detailed but are prone to change over time. In this Review, Wardell and Palombo detail the malleability of emotional autobiographical memories, the role of narrative and the use of these memories in future thinking.