The Impact of Emotional Arousal Levels, Types, and Presentation Speed on the Formation of False Memories

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the level and type of emotional arousal, as well as the speed of presentation, on the creation of false memories. The sample comprised 90 female tenth-grade students from Mafraq Education District, who were selected using a convenience sampling method and randomly divided into six equal groups based on the level and type of emotional arousal. Each group consisted of 15 students.  To achieve the study's objectives, the Cornell/Cortland Lists and a Memory Recognition Test were developed.  The results indicated a statistically significant effect of the level of emotional arousal on the creation of false memories. Specifically, a high level of emotional arousal was found to be more conducive to the formation of false memories compared to a medium level, while a low level of emotional arousal was associated with the least production of false memories. Furthermore, the results did not reveal a statistically significant difference (α = 0.05) in false memory production based on the type of emotional arousal. Additionally, the findings showed that false memory production was greater during slow presentations compared to fast presentations. These findings have implications for educators and psychologists, suggesting that understanding the role of emotional arousal and presentation speed can inform strategies for improving memory accuracy in educational and therapeutic contexts.