Negative memories can significantly impact mental well-being, contributing to conditions like depression and anxiety. Rumination on negative events reinforces their impact, hindering recovery. A potential coping mechanism is finding positive meaning in these experiences, a process linked to improved mental health outcomes. This study addresses the critical question of whether this positive reinterpretation alters the memory representation itself. The labile nature of memories after retrieval suggests the possibility of modification upon reactivation. While previous research has shown memory updating in other contexts (conditioned fear, procedural, and episodic memory), it remains unclear if positive emotion-focused coping similarly modifies autobiographical memories. The study hypothesized that focusing on the positive aspects of a negative memory would lead to an updated memory representation, resulting in enhanced positive emotion and altered memory content at future retrieval. The hippocampus, crucial for episodic memory, and the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), involved in reward processing, were expected to play a role in this process. The research aimed to explore whether positive meaning finding could update negative autobiographical memories, impacting emotional response, recalled content, and neural representation over time.

The literature review extensively covers the impact of negative memories on mental health, the role of rumination in perpetuating negative affect, and the potential benefits of finding positive meaning in adverse experiences. Studies linking positive reappraisal and other positive emotion-focused coping strategies to reduced depressive symptoms, increased positive emotionality, and faster stress recovery are cited. The literature also touches upon the reconsolidation process, highlighting its role in updating memory representations. Studies on reactivation-induced updating in various memory domains, including conditioned fear, procedural, and episodic memory, are reviewed. However, the literature lacked conclusive evidence regarding the impact of positive emotion-focused coping on updating naturally occurring negative autobiographical memories.

Four experiments were conducted using diverse methodologies to investigate the effects of positive meaning finding on negative autobiographical memories. **Experiment 1:** This two-day study involved 102 participants who recalled 12 negative memories. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups: Positive (focused on positive aspects), Negative (focused on negative aspects), Neutral (focused on neutral aspects), and Distraction (performed a spatial perception task). One week later, participants recalled and rated the same memories again. The study measured changes in positive emotion and memory content. **Experiment 2:** This three-session longitudinal study replicated Experiment 1 with a larger sample (91 participants) and extended the follow-up period to two months. Participants were divided into a Positive group (positive meaning finding) and a Control group (natural recollection). Changes in positive emotion and memory content were assessed at one week and two months post-elaboration. The study also analyzed the components of updated memories (details from initial recollection, elaboration, and new details). **Experiment 3:** This study (72 participants) used a reconsolidation paradigm to examine the temporal dynamics of memory updating. Participants were assigned to three groups: Delayed-Test (positive meaning finding after reactivation, tested after 24 hours), Immediate-Test (positive meaning finding after reactivation, tested after 1 hour), and No-Reminder (no immediate reactivation, tested after 24 hours). The study examined the impact of the delay between reactivation and positive elaboration on memory updating. **Experiment 4:** This multi-session fMRI study (32 participants) investigated the neural correlates of memory updating using a modified version of the Delayed-Test group from Experiment 3. Participants underwent two fMRI scans 24 hours apart. During the first scan, they recalled 32 negative memories and then engaged in positive meaning finding for half and natural recollection for the other half. The second scan involved recalling the same memories. Representational similarity analysis (RSA) was used to compare neural patterns across retrievals in the hippocampus, ventral striatum, and VMPFC. A two-month behavioral follow-up assessed long-term memory change.

Across the four experiments, consistent findings emerged. **Experiment 1:** The Positive group showed the greatest increase in positive emotion at future retrieval compared to other groups. Increased positive feeling correlated with increased positive memory content and content dissimilarity in the Positive group only. **Experiment 2:** The Positive group exhibited a greater increase in positive emotion, positive content, and content dissimilarity at both one week and two months compared to the Control group. Analysis of memory components revealed that the Positive group incorporated aspects of their positive elaboration and more new positive details, while preserving a significant portion of initial details. **Experiment 3:** Only the Delayed-Test group (positive manipulation after reactivation, tested after 24 hours) showed an increase in positive emotion for positive trials, supporting a reactivation-induced reconsolidation process. **Experiment 4:** RSA revealed greater hippocampal and ventral striatal pattern dissimilarity across retrievals for positively elaborated memories, correlated with increased positivity. These findings suggest that positive meaning finding alters emotional experience, memory content, and neural representations over time.

The findings strongly support the hypothesis that positive meaning finding adaptively updates negative autobiographical memories. The consistent replication across diverse experimental designs underscores the robustness of the effect. The results align with a reactivation-induced reconsolidation mechanism, demonstrating that memory modification requires a reminder, a suitable delay between reactivation and the positive manipulation, and a subsequent delay before memory testing. The observed neural changes in the hippocampus and ventral striatum support the involvement of memory processing and reward-related brain regions. The study extends the existing literature on reactivation-induced memory updating by demonstrating the effectiveness of internally generated, positive emotion-focused coping strategies in modifying personal negative memories. The results highlight the multifaceted and long-lasting impact of cognitive regulation on psychological well-being, suggesting that positive emotion-focused coping is not merely an immediate emotional regulation strategy, but also a tool for adaptive memory updating. The potential relevance of prediction error signals in driving memory updating is also discussed.

This research demonstrates that positive meaning finding is a viable strategy for adaptively updating negative autobiographical memories. The findings highlight the long-lasting impact of this technique, potentially leading to improved psychological well-being and resilience. Future research could explore individual differences in cognitive regulation ability, memory characteristics influencing susceptibility to updating, and the comparative effectiveness of other positive emotion-eliciting strategies. Understanding the precise mechanisms underlying this process has important implications for therapeutic interventions.

The study acknowledges limitations, such as the possibility that the strategy might not be equally effective for all individuals (e.g., those with anhedonia). Certain memory characteristics (high emotional arousal, negative valence, vividness) might also affect susceptibility to modification. The study primarily used a continuous scale to assess emotion; future studies could separately analyze changes in positive and negative emotion. Finally, exploring the efficacy of other positive emotion-eliciting strategies would further enhance our understanding of this phenomenon.