Physiological and subjective arousal to prospective mental imagery: A mechanism for behavioral change?

ABSTRACT: Emotional prospective mental imagery, in which we simulate possible future events within our minds, have a pronounced impact on behavior. For example, repeated engagement in positive prospective imagery can lead to behavioral activation, while negative prospective imagery can lead to catastrophizing and avoidance. Physiological arousal boosts memory consolidation, creating emotional memories. Thus, if emotional prospective imagery produces an arousal response, the memory consolidation of these simulations of the future may be boosted, offering a possible underlying mechanism for the impact of emotional prospective imagery on behavior. In order to examine the feasibility of arousal as a possible mechanism behind the impact of emotional prospective imagery on behavior, sixty participants pro

SUBMITTER: Agren T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10715665 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature