The face of memory: experiential avoidance and facial expressions during the retrieval of autobiographical memories

ABSTRACT

Experiential avoidance refers to attempts to control or suppress unwanted thoughts, feelings and emotions. We investigated whether experiential avoidance is associated with fewer facial expressions during autobiographical retrieval (i.e. retrieval of memory for personal information). We invited participants to retrieve autobiographical memories, and recall was analysed by a facial analysis software that detects and classifies emotional expressions. Participants were divided into high vs. low experiential avoidance. Analysis showed fewer emotional facial expressions in participants with high experiential avoidance than in those with low experiential avoidance during autobiographical retrieval. This low emotional expression can be regarded as an attempt by individuals with high experiential avoidance to avoid communicating the emotional load to others. This low emotional expression can be also regarded as an attempt by individuals with high experiential avoidance to control or suppress the internal events that contribute to the appearance or persistence of unwanted emotional states during retrieval.

KEYWORDS:

• Autobiographical memory
• emotion
• experiential avoidance
• facial expressions
• software for facial analysis

Acknowledgements

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.