Affect biases memory of location: Evidence for the spatial representation of affect

Orientational metaphors that associate good with up and bad with down illustrate that spatial terms can be used to describe positivity and negativity The present work examined how the association between valence and verticality influences memory for the locations of emotionally evocative stimuli. In two spatial memory experiments, participants viewed positive and negative images from the International Affective Picture System in various locations and then reproduced each image's location from memory. Results indicated that memories of location are influenced by stimulus valence, such that positive items are biased upward relative to negative items. A third experiment extended these results to yearbook photos that had been paired with positive or negative behavioural descriptions. The findings suggest that affective responses evoke spatial representations, leading to systematic biases in spatial memory.