Picturing the past: the role of photo cue visual perspective on positive autobiographical memory recall in dysphoria

Positive autobiographical memory plays a key role in emotional well-being and is distorted by cognitive processing biases in dysphoria. This experiment investigated how the visual perspectives (first-person vs. third-person) of personal photographs influence recall of positive memories depending on dysphoria. Eighty-five participants (42 low dysphoria, 43 high dysphoria) submitted photos of positive events from both perspectives. Later, participants recalled these events while viewing either a first- or third-person photo before rating and describing their memory. While first-person photos promoted more recall from an own-eyes vantage point regardless of dysphoria level, dysphoria was still associated with greater observer-like recall, reduced mental imagery and lower internal episodic detail. Additionally, dysphoria predicted less focus on the meaning of pictured events in general and lower positive and higher negative emotional impact of recalling the events in the presence of first-person photo cues. Thus, while photo cues can shift memory vantage point, memory emotional engagement remains constrained by mood-related biases.