A large body of evidence demonstrates that emotion impacts
memory. Although visual information dominates emotional
memories, previous studies have not examined the role of visual
imagery as an individual difference variable in the representation
of emotional memories. This study examines the
role of visual imagery skills (namely, object and spatial imagery)
on emotional memories. Participants (N = 115) recalled
positive, negative, and neutral events in response to the
cue words and then rated the phenomenological characteristics
of each event. Event accounts were coded for episodic detail
categories (event, place, perceptual, time, emotion-thought
details). The results showed that visual imagery skills contributed
to the remembrance of the episodic details of positive
memories and the phenomenology of both positive and negative
events. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance
of considering the individual differences in memory research
and highlights the differences between emotional and neutral
events.