Repressed memory has attracted considerable attention in forensic circles, from eyewitnesses to abuse victims. Are repressed memories not remembered or not retrieved? Is this because those who repress experience unpleasant emotions less frequently or less intensely?

A German two-part study examined individual differences in the memory representation of emotional episodes (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73:5, pp. 1064-1079). Results indicate that a repressive coping style influences mainly the experience of emotions but not so much the accessibility of emotional memories.

Subjects in one study were 61 undergraduate psychology students. The German versions of the Marlowe-Crowne SDS (23 items) and the short form of Taylor's MAS (23 items) were used to measure repressive coping style. A computerized version of a scenario rating task (SRT) was used to examine the encoding of emotional experiences.

Participants rated the presence and intensity of emotions in the scenarios. Overall, the subjects made 480 judgments (30 scenarios X 16 emotions), indicating their emotional reactions on a zero-to-six scale. They then estimated the absolute frequency of emotions in the scenarios within 10 s. Last, they recalled as quickly as possible an episode from the SRT in which the emotion used as a retrieval cue was present.

The study demonstrated individual differences in the frequency of emotional experiences. Also, repressors showed no difference in the speed of zero ratings and tended to need more time to note such emotions occurred.

A second study was conducted that investigated repression in a real-world setting. This protocol examined repression effects on the accessibility of autobiographic experiences after a longer retention interval.

Eighty subjects judged the frequency of emotions twice daily for 2 weeks and then judged the frequency of emotions for the 1st and 2nd week. If repression influences the storage of emotion memories during the retention interval, repression effects should be more pronounced in frequency judgments of the first week. But significant repression effects were not found.

The results of these studies support the belief that repression affects more the encoding of a memory than its retrieval. Applying this understanding to the forensic examination of events presented as repressed is a needed next step in this research.