Involuntary memories and restrained eating

Most involuntary memories are elicited by external cues (e.g., smells, sounds) that have unique associations with specific memories (Berntsen’s cue-retrieval hypothesis), but involuntary memories can sometimes be elicited by weak, even imperceptible, cues that raise the activation level of an already primed memory (Berntsen’s motivation-priming hypothesis) to also reach conscious awareness during times of low attentional focus. The current study examined the effects of a motivation bias (restrained eating) on the involuntary memories recorded in daily diaries for seven days by 56 female participants. A large proportion of the involuntary memories were elicited by food-related cues and occurred in food-related contexts. A significant correlation was found between the participants’ scores on a restrained eating scale and the percentage of involuntary memories involving cooking and eating content. These results parallel previous research involving voluntary memory retrievals during restrained eating.