Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Memory, emotion regulation, and social inference skills in college students

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Relationships between memory and social inference (SI) have been documented in clinical literature, and these relationships may be affected by specific symptomatology within clinical groups. Among healthy individuals, two commonly studied emotion regulation (ER) strategies, cognitive reappraisal and suppression, have been found to correlate with memory and social skills, but have not been examined in relation to SI specifically. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine relationships between various types of memory and SI in healthy young adults, and to explore whether individual differences in ER moderate the relationship between memory and SI skills. Ninety-seven participants completed computerized tasks of memory (verbal, face, and working memory), The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), and a trait ER questionnaire. Correlational analyses showed that verbal memory was positively related to SI and cognitive reappraisal was positively related to face memory. Moderation analyses showed a positive relationship between face memory and SI only for individuals who reported high trait use of cognitive reappraisal. These findings suggest that the relationship between face memory and social cognitive abilities in healthy college students may be affected by individual differences in habitual ER strategy use.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andreotti, C., Thigpen, J. E., Dunn, M. J., Watson, K., Potts, J., Reising, M. M., Robinson, K. E., Rodriguez, E. M., Roubinov, D., Luecken, L., & Compas, B. E. (2013). Cognitive reappraisal and secondary control coping: Associations with working memory, positive and negative affect, and symptoms of anxiety/depression. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 26(1), 20–35.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calkins, M. E., Gur, R. C., Ragland, J. D., & Gur, R. E. (2005). Face recognition memory deficits and visual object memory performance in patients with schizophrenia and their relatives. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(10), 1963–1966. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.162.10.1963.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, S. M., Moses, L. J., & Breton, C. (2002). How specific is the relation between executive function and theory of mind? Contributions of inhibitory control and working memory. Infant and Child Development, 11(2), 73–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egloff, B., Schmukle, S. C., Burns, L. R., & Schwerdtfeger, A. (2006). Spontaneous emotion regulation during evaluated speaking tasks: Associations with negative affect, anxiety expression, memory, and physiological responding. Emotion, 6(3), 356–366.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, H. D., Ellis, D. M., Fraser, W., & Deb, S. (1994). A preliminary study of right hemisphere cognitive deficits and impaired social judgments among young people with Asperger syndrome. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 3(4), 255–266. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01978114.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • English, T., John, O. P., Srivastava, S., & Gross, J. J. (2012). Emotion regulation and peer-rated social functioning: A 4-year longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Personality, 46(6), 780–784.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, D. T., Krull, D. S., & Pelham, B. W. (1988). Of thoughts unspoken: Social inference and the self-regulation of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(5), 685–694. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.55.5.685.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, M. F., Bearden, C. E., Cannon, T. D., Fiske, A. P., Hellemann, G. S., Horan, W. P., Kee, K., Kern, R. S., Lee, J., Sergi, M. J., Subotnik, K. L., Sugar, C. A., Ventura, J., Yee, C. M., & Nuechterlein, K. H. (2012). Social cognition in schizophrenia, part 1: Performance across phase of illness. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 38(4), 854–864. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbq171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (2002). Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281–291. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0048577201393198.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (1998). Mapping the domain of expressivity: Multimethod evidence for a hierarchical model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 170–191. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.1.170.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 348–362. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J., Carstensen, L. L., Pasupathi, M., Tsai, J., Götestam Skorpen, C., & Hsu, A. Y. (1997). Emotion and aging: Experience, expression, and control. Psychology and Aging, 12(4), 590–599. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.12.4.590.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gur, R. C., Ragland, J. D., Moberg, P. J., Turner, T. H., Bilker, W. B., Kohler, C., Siegel, S. J., & Gur, R. E. (2001). Computerized neurocognitive scanning: I. Methodology and validation in healthy people. Neuropsychopharmacology, 25(5), 766–776. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0893-133X(01)00278-0.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gur, R. C., Richard, J., Hughett, P., Calkins, M. E., Macy, L., Bilker, W. B., Brensinger, C., & Gur, R. E. (2010). A cognitive neuroscience-based computerized battery for efficient measurement of individual differences: Standardization and initial construct validation. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 187(2), 254–262.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press.

  • IBM. (2013). SPSS statistics for windows, version 22.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ihnen, G. H., Penn, D. L., Corrigan, P. W., & Martin, J. (1998). Social perception and social skill in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 80(3), 275–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-1781(98)00079-1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ilieva, I. P., Hook, C. J., & Farah, M. J. (2015). Prescription Stimulants' effects on healthy inhibitory control, working memory, and episodic memory: A meta-analysis. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 27, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • John, O. P., & Gross, J. J. (2004). Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. Journal of Personality, 72(6), 1301–1333. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00298.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kausler, D. H. (1994). Learning and memory in normal aging. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, B. R., Lincoln, A. J., Ozonoff, S., & Lai, Z. (2005). Examining the relationship between executive functions and restricted, repetitive symptoms of autistic disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35(4), 445–460.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, I., & McDonald, S. (2004). An exploration of causes of non-literal language problems in individuals with Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(3), 311–328. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JADD.0000029553.52889.15.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, S., Flanagan, S., Rollins, J., & Kinch, J. (2003). TASIT: A new clinical tool for assessing social perception after traumatic brain injury. The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 18(3), 219–238.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, S., Bornhofen, C., Shum, D., Long, E., Saunders, C., & Neulinger, K. (2006). Reliability and validity of the awareness of social inference test (TASIT): A clinical test of social perception. Disability and Rehabilitation, 28(24), 1529–1542. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638280600646185.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Menon, V., Anagnoson, R., Mathalon, D., Glover, G., & Pfefferbaum, A. (2001). Functional neuroanatomy of auditory working memory in schizophrenia: Relation to positive and negative symptoms. NeuroImage, 13(3), 433–446.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, R. L., & Bellack, A. S. (1981). The role of social perception in social skill. Behavior Therapy, 12(1), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(81)80107-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philippot, P., & Feldman, R. S. (1990). Age and social competence in preschoolers' decoding of facial expression. British Journal of Social Psychology, 29(1), 43–54.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. M., & Gross, J. J. (2000). Emotion regulation and memory: The cognitive costs of keeping one's cool. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(3), 410–424. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.3.410.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sabatelli, R. M., Buck, R., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). A social relations analysis of nonverbal communication accuracy in married couples. Journal of Personality, 54(3), 513–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schenkel, L. S., Marlow-O'Connor, M., Moss, M., Sweeney, J. A., & Pavuluri, M. N. (2008). Theory of mind and social inference in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. Psychological Medicine, 38(6), 791–800. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291707002541.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Schmeichel, B. J., Volokhov, R. N., & Demaree, H. A. (2008). Working memory capacity and the self-regulation of emotional expression and experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(6), 1526–1540. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013345.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, B. J., Chapman, A. L., & Layden, B. K. (2012). Intrapersonal and interpersonal functions of non suicidal self-injury: Associations with emotional and social functioning. Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior, 42(1), 36–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vakil, E. (2005). The effect of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) on different aspects of memory: A selective review. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 27(8), 977–1021.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The data collected for this research was originally submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a graduate degree awarded by The Catholic University of America. We would like to thank Rosa Heryak, MaryGrace Cruser, and Conor Wilson for assistance with data collection.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, DC, 20064, USA

    Kelly E. Ferreira & Nancy E. Adleman

Authors
  1. Kelly E. Ferreira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nancy E. Adleman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kelly E. Ferreira.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

Kelly E. Ferreira declares that she has no conflict of interest. Nancy E. Adleman declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ferreira, K.E., Adleman, N.E. Memory, emotion regulation, and social inference skills in college students. Curr Psychol 39, 1269–1276 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9833-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9833-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation