Abstract
<p>While stressful life events are inevitable, we can apply emotion regulation (ER) strategies to alter how these events impact our cognition and well-being. Although cognitive reappraisal strategies have been shown to effectively modulate emotion, their downstream impacts on memory are less clear. Here, we investigated how distancing and reinterpretation applied to negative images and immersion applied to positive images during memory encoding impact self-reported emotion and subsequent memory. We utilized a memory task that measures general and detailed memory to determine whether ER differentially impacts distinct aspects of memory. Participants were instructed to engage in distancing and immersion or reinterpretation and immersion during memory encoding of emotional images. A third group of participants received no instruction to regulate their emotions and viewed the images as they normally would. As expected, distancing and reinterpretation reduced negative affect toward negative images, whereas immersion increased positive affect toward positive images. Across ER groups, images encoded during ER-cued trials were generally better remembered than images viewed passively, with enhanced performance observed for both general and detailed memory. However, detailed memory showed additional strategy- and valence-dependent effects. Immersion was associated with enhanced detailed memory for positive images, distancing was associated with reduced detailed memory for negative images, and reinterpretation did not significantly alter detailed memory for negative images. These findings suggest that engaging ER during encoding may broadly enhance subsequent memory, while specific strategies selectively shape the fidelity of emotional memories, highlighting the importance of considering downstream cognitive consequences when selecting strategies to promote emotional well-being.</p>