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Memory
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Using memories to motivate future behaviour: An
experimental exercise intervention
Mathew J. Biondolillo
a
& David B. Pillemer
a
a
Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
Published online: 26 Feb 2014.
To cite this article: Mathew J. Biondolillo & David B. Pillemer (2014): Using memories to motivate future behaviour:
An experimental exercise intervention, Memory, DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2014.889709
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2014.889709
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2. Using memories to motivate future behaviour:
An experimental exercise intervention
Mathew J. Biondolillo and David B. Pillemer
Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
(Received 14 August 2013; accepted 27 January 2014)
This study tested a novel memory-based experimental intervention to increase exercise activity.
Undergraduate students completed a two-part online survey ostensibly regarding college activity choices.
At Time 1, they completed questionnaires that included assessments of exercise-related attitudes,
motivation and self-reported behaviours. Next, they described a memory of a positive or negative
experience that would increase their motivation to exercise; students in a control condition did not
receive a memory prompt. Finally, they rated their intentions to exercise in the future. Eight days
following Time 1, students received a Time 2 survey that included an assessment of their self-reported
exercise during the prior week. Students in the positive memory condition reported higher levels of
subsequent exercise than those in the control condition; students in the negative memory condition
reported intermediate levels of exercise. Activating a positive motivational memory had a significant
effect on students’ self-reported exercise activity even after controlling for prior attitudes, motivation and
exercise activity.
Keywords: Autobiographical memory; Memory functions; Motivation; Exercise; Health.
From a public health perspective, identifying factors
that can motivate individuals to engage in regular
exercise is vital. Worldwide, over one-third of adults
20 years of age and older were overweight as of
2008, and 11% were obese (World Health Organ-
ization [WHO], 2013a). The obesity epidemic is
especially serious in the USA, where more than
one-third of adults 20 years of age and older are
obese (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[CDC], 2012a) as are approximately 17% of chil-
dren ages 2–19 (CDC, 2012b). Obesity is linked to
serious health problems such as cancer, stroke,
diabetes and heart disease. Recent research suggests
that obesity has surpassed smoking as the factor
most responsible for the ever-growing cost of health
care in the USA (Ungar, 2012).
As 31% of adults aged 15 and over worldwide
were estimated to be insufficiently physically
active as of 2008 (WHO, 2013b), one potential
solution to the global obesity problem would be to
increase the amount of physical exercise in which
we engage. Research suggests that regular exercise
(in combination with a healthy diet) can help
combat genetic contributions to obesity, and it is
associated with many physical and mental health
benefits including improved mood and energy,
better sleep, and decreased risk for diseases linked
to obesity (CDC, 2011).
Media campaigns targeting physical exercise may
effectively disseminate information to the public,
but their influence on behavioural change is unclear
(Kahn et al., 2002; Marcus et al., 2006). Further-
more, knowledge of the benefits of exercise does
Address correspondence to: Mathew Biondolillo, Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824,
USA. E-mail: mjbiondolillo@gmail.com
© 2014 Taylor & Francis
Memory, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2014.889709
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3. not seem to adequately motivate many individuals
to maintain a regular exercise regimen (Dishman,
1982; Morrow, Krzewinski-Malone, Jackson, Bun-
gum, & Fitzgerald, 2004). Michie, Abraham, Wit-
tington, McAteer, and Gupta (2009) analysed a
large sample of interventions that sought to change
physical activity or healthy eating behaviour to
identify what techniques were most effective.
Importantly, for the purposes of the current
research, none of the studies they reviewed exam-
ined the motivational impact of one’s own exercise-
related autobiographical memories.
The present research examined the effects of
remembering past exercise experiences on college
students’ subsequent exercise intentions and beha-
viours. We conducted a randomised experiment in
which students were asked to recall either a
positive or a negative memory that could motivate
them to exercise; control group students were not
asked to recall a motivational memory. The effects
of the memory manipulation on intentions to
exercise and on self-reported exercise behaviours
over a subsequent one-week time period were
assessed. Prior research on memory, imagery and
affect support our main prediction: Self-reported
exercise activity will be increased by the activation
of both positive and negative motivational mem-
ories, and this effect will be evident when control-
ling for prior self-reported exercise activity,
attitudes and motivation.
IMAGERY AND AFFECT STUDIES
Research on imagery and affect suggests that
activating autobiographical memories could elev-
ate exercise behaviour. Researchers have exam-
ined imagery as a form of motivational facilitation
that is frequently used by high-achieving athletes
(Driskell, Copper, & Moran, 1994; Gregg, Hall, &
Nederhof, 2005; Jones & Stuth, 1997; Martin,
Moritz, & Hall, 1999; Ross-Stewart & Short, 2009).
Additionally, research has focused on how imagery
may be used to improve exercise-related affect
(Stanley & Cumming, 2010), exercise motivation
(Andersson & Moss, 2011; Duncan, Hall, Wilson, &
Rodgers, 2012; Hall, Rodgers, Wilson, & Norman,
2010) and exercise behaviour (Andersson & Moss,
2011; Chan & Cameron, 2012; Cumming, 2008).
Because cognitive mechanisms and neural struc-
tures underlying both episodic memory and
self-referential imagination appear to be similar
(Schacter & Addis, 2007, 2009), and one source of
exercise imagery may be relevant past experiences
(Chan & Cameron, 2012; Giacobbi, Hausenblas,
Fallon, & Hall, 2003; Stanley & Cumming, 2010),
the activation of relevant personal memories could
also increase the motivation to exercise.
Another memory-relevant focus in studies
examining exercise behaviour is the role played
by affect. Kwan and Bryan (2010) examined
individuals’ affective responses to aerobic exercise
before, during and after an exercise episode. They
found that people who responded with more
positive and less negative affect reported more
favourable exercise attitudes, greater exercise self-
efficacy and greater intentions to exercise. These
positive emotional reactions could exert their
future influence through re-activation in memory.
Similarly, Parfitt and Hughes (2009) suggested
that one’s affective response during and immedi-
ately following an exercise episode is a good
predictor of subsequent behaviour. The authors
speculated that lingering memories of positive
emotions could promote exercise persistence.
EXERCISE MOTIVATION
Research on the directive function of autobio-
graphical memory may be enhanced by incorpor-
ating a motivational theoretical framework
(Philippe, Koestner, & Lekes, 2013). According
to Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci &
Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000), individuals are
motivated to engage in various behaviours to the
extent that they meet their needs of competence,
autonomy and relatedness. A broad distinction has
been made between autonomous forms of motiva-
tion and controlled forms of motivation. These
two motivational types differ in terms of the
degree to which they are internally or externally
determined. Autonomous forms of motivation (or
regulation) are related to high intentions to exer-
cise and to greater exercise behaviour (Stanley,
Cumming, Standage, & Duda, 2012; Teixeira,
Carraça, Markland, Silva, & Ryan, 2012), whereas
controlled forms of motivation are not as predict-
ive of exercise behaviour (Standage, Sebire, &
Loney, 2008).
Promoting autonomous forms of motivation can
increase task persistence (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Several studies suggest that increases in autonom-
ous motivation may underlie change in physical
activity (Andersson & Moss, 2011; Lewis & Sutton,
2011; Perlman & Goc Karp, 2010; Rodgers, Hall,
Duncan, Pearson, & Milne, 2010; Standage et al.,
2008; Stanley et al., 2012). Successful interventions
2 BIONDOLILLO AND PILLEMER
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4. aimed at influencing exercise behaviour from an
SDT perspective have typically employed explicit
instruction or counselling over several sessions
(Fortier, Sweet, O’Sullivan, & Williams, 2007; Silva
et al., 2010) or the manipulation of the environment
over several weeks or more (Chatzisarantis &
Hagger, 2009; Perlman & Goc Karp, 2010), and
even long-term interventions may not result in
changes in motivation (Webber, Gabriele, Tate, &
Dignan, 2010). Although we did not anticipate that
our one-time memory intervention would result in
underlying changes in autonomous motivation, it
was included as a control variable in all analyses.
THE DIRECTIVE FUNCTION OF
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES
We know of no prior experimental studies directly
examining the influence of autobiographical mem-
ory on self-reported exercise activity, but research
examining other outcomes suggests that memory
should play an important role. Memories of past
experiences guide current and future behaviours,
intentions and problem solving (Bluck, 2003;
Bluck, Alea, Habermas, & Rubin, 2005; Pillemer,
1998, 2003, 2009; Schacter, Addis, & Buckner,
2007). Research has shown that memories of
particular episodes are influential in motivating
behaviour even when controlling for the effects of
general attitudes (Kuwabara & Pillemer, 2010;
Philippe et al., 2013).
Kuwabara and Pillemer (2010) found that
undergraduates reported greater intentions to
give a donation to their university after recalling
a positive episode concerning their university, and
that this effect was evident even when controlling
for prior attitudes towards the university. More-
over, when given the option to donate real money
to their university or to an unrelated charity, those
students who had recalled positive episodes chose
to give to their university significantly more often
than students in a control condition, with students
who had recalled negative episodes falling in-
between. On a related topic, Beike, Adams, and
Naufel (2010) found that the amount of closure
associated with a personal memory—the degree to
which the remembered event represented ‘unfin-
ished business’—affects giving behaviour:
Remembering low-closure episodes of failure to
donate to a charity led to increased giving
behaviour.
In a different domain, Pezdek and Salim (2011)
examined the directive impact of personal mem-
ories on public speaking performance. Individuals
who activated a memory of a past successful public
speaking experience had lower increases in anxi-
ety (measured by self-reports and cortisol levels)
during a subsequent public speaking task and
performed the task objectively better than indivi-
duals who were asked to activate a memory of a
past success in dealing with an unrelated phobia.
The authors’ theoretical explanation for the
effects of specific autobiographical memories on
behaviour centred on the activation of relevant
aspects of the self-concept related to public speak-
ing. In the current study, remembering a positive
exercise memory could temporarily activate a
more positive exercise-related self-concept, which
would then lead to an increase in exercise
activities.
Philippe et al. (2013) found that autobiograph-
ical memory qualities predict real-life interper-
sonal outcomes. Participants in committed
relationships were asked to recall memories
emblematic of their current relationship. Memory
attributes predicted relationship quality at Time 2,
one year following the initial session, even when
controlling for prior relationship quality and gen-
eral attitudes towards one’s partner. Furthermore,
memory attributes predicted whether or not parti-
cipants terminated the relationship by Time 2.
In summary, autobiographical memory is linked
to intentions and behaviours in multiple domains;
however, the effects of memory on exercise activ-
ities have yet to be examined.
PRESENT RESEARCH
An experimental, test-retest design was employed
to examine the effect of recalling a specific
exercise episode on subsequent exercise intentions
and self-reported exercise activity. Participants
were randomly assigned to one of two experi-
mental groups or a control group. In all three
groups, participants first filled out questionnaires
assessing exercise and fitness satisfaction, exercise
attitudes, exercise motivation and past exercise as
well as filler questionnaires about academic
motivation and satisfaction. Then, they were asked
to describe a positive motivational exercise epis-
ode, a negative motivational exercise episode or
no memory. Following the memory manipulation,
USING MEMORIES TO MOTIVATE FUTURE BEHAVIOUR 3
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5. participants answered questions about their inten-
tions to exercise and to study. In a follow-up
session 8–14 days later, participants again filled
out questionnaires assessing exercise and fitness
satisfaction, exercise attitudes and exercise
motivation, as well as a measure of their exercise
behaviour over the past week. The measures of
academic satisfaction and academic motivation
were again administered to disguise the nature of
the study. As an additional measure of intentions
to partake in health-promoting behaviour, partici-
pants were asked whether or not they would like
to receive information about on-campus oppor-
tunities for exercise and healthy dining. Finally,
they were asked to list the strategies they used to
motivate themselves to exercise between Time 1
and Time 2 and whether or not they had thought
about the memory that they had recalled at Time 1
in order to motivate themselves to exercise.1
Case examples and prior empirical studies
suggest that both positive and negative memories
may increase motivation and affect performance
(Kuwabara & Pillemer, 2010; Pillemer, 1998, 2003;
Selimbegovic, Régner, Sanitioso, & Huguet, 2011).
For example, a memory representing the positive
impact of exercise could inspire future activities
that lead to similarly positive outcomes, whereas a
memory representing the negative consequences
of failure to exercise could inspire future activities
that lead to more favourable outcomes. Accord-
ingly, we hypothesised that participants in both the
positive and negative motivational memory condi-
tions would exercise more between Time 1 and
follow-up testing than participants in the no-
memory control condition, and that exercise activ-
ity would be greatest in the positive memory
condition (see Kuwabara & Pillemer, 2010, for a
similar pattern of results involving donation beha-
viours). We also predicted that both memory
groups would report greater exercise behaviour
than the control group when controlling for Time
1 exercise behaviour, general attitudes and auto-
nomous exercise motivation. In addition, we pre-
dicted that intentions to exercise would be greatest
in the positive exercise memory group as positive
emotion has been shown to predict exercise
intentions (Kwan & Bryan, 2010), and intentions
to donate (Kuwabara & Pillemer, 2010). Students’
requests for additional information about healthy
lifestyles served as another measure of the effects
of the memory intervention. Finally, we expected
effects to differ depending upon participants’ pre-
existing level of exercise satisfaction, with students
who were less satisfied with their current exercise
regimen experiencing the greatest benefits.
METHOD
Participants
The original Time 1 sample consisted of 217 under-
graduates of the University of New Hampshire
(UNH) who participated in a survey during the
spring semester (from February to April) that
ostensibly looked at student activity choices at the
university. Six participants were omitted for pro-
cedural or performance irregularities, and one
participant was excluded due to age (50). The final
Time 1 sample consisted of 210 participants (167
female). The mean age was 19.24 years (SD = 1.25).
The vast majority of participants (94.3%) were
Caucasian. There were no gender differences on
any variable included in our main analyses.
Because a greater proportion of participants in the
positive memory condition (20%) than in the other
two conditions (negative = 11%; control = 8%)
indicated that they were UNH athletes, χ2
(2, N =
186) = 4.98, p = .083, athletic team status was
included as a control variable in the analyses of the
effects of the memory manipulation on self-
reported exercise behaviours.
Of the 210 participants who completed the
Time 1 assessment, nine did not start Time 2
assessments, one submitted incomplete data and
eight were excluded due to procedural issues.
Measures of exercise frequency and intended
frequency were examined for extreme outliers.
Standardised scores were computed for Godin
Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ;
1
Prior to conducting the current study, a similar study was
completed at UNH using the same basic research design and
outcome measures. Effects of the memory manipulation on
exercise intentions and behaviours were not statistically signi-
ficant. The validity of the earlier study was compromised
because a violent weather event disrupted normal university
activities, including closing of the university, during the time
period in which exercise behaviours were being assessed. In
addition, the original memory prompts did not specifically
target past events that were motivational in nature, and
inspection of memory narratives suggested that a substantial
proportion of the reported events focused on positive or
negative activities that were not likely to serve a motivational
function. The new study included an explicit request for
positive or negative memories that were likely to motivate
participants to exercise. Detailed results of the preliminary
study are available on request.
4 BIONDOLILLO AND PILLEMER
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6. Godin & Shephard, 1985) strenuous and moderate
exercise subscales, the sum of strenuous and
moderate exercise subscales, as well as intended
exercise frequency at both Times 1 and 2. Partici-
pants with scores exceeding +/−3 standard devia-
tions from the mean were omitted from analyses;
this resulted in the removal of an additional six
participants. The final Time 2 sample consisted of
186 participants (148 female; mean age = 19.20
years, SD = 1.27). All reported analyses include
only the 186 participants with complete data.
Measures
Physical exercises satisfaction. Two items asses-
sing participants’ satisfaction with their level of
physical fitness and their level of physical exercise
were created for this study. Participants were
asked ‘How satisfied are you with your current
level of physical fitness?’ and ‘How satisfied are
you with your current level of physical exercise?’
Responses were given on a 1–7 scale (1 = Not at
all satisfied; 7 = Extremely satisfied).
Academic satisfaction. Two items assessing par-
ticipants’ satisfaction with their level of academic
achievement and their level of academic effort
were created for this study. They were filler
questions to disguise the focus on exercise and
were not analysed.
Exercise motivation. The Behavioural Regula-
tion in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ; Mullan,
Markland, & Ingledew, 1997) was used to assess
individuals’ levels of controlled and autonomous
motivation. Participants responded to 15 items
asking the degree to which statements were true
for them on a 5-point scale (0 = not true for me;
4 = very true for me). Items included the prompts, ‘I
exercise because other people say I should’,
and ‘I value the benefits of exercise’. A composite
score for controlled motivation was computed from
the average of the external and introjected regula-
tion subscales, and a composite score for autonom-
ous motivation was computed from the average of
the identified and intrinsic regulation subscales.
These measures have been useful in predicting
exercise behaviour (Standage et al., 2008). Cron-
bach’s alpha coefficients were .94 for the autonom-
ous composite score and .79 for the controlled
composite score at Time 1. At Time 2, Cronbach’s
alpha coefficients were .93 for the autonomous
composite score and .85 for the controlled compos-
ite score. Because research has shown that auto-
nomous motivation is a stronger predictor of
exercise than controlled motivation (for a review,
see Teixeira et al., 2012), analyses included only the
autonomous motivation composite scores.
Exercise activity. The Godin LTEQ (Godin &
Shephard, 1985) was used to assess participants’
exercise activity. At Time 1, participants were
asked to indicate, on average, how many times
per week they participate in bouts of activity for
greater than 15 minutes of three different intensity
levels: strenuous, moderate and mild. At Time 2,
they reported on their exercise activity for the
prior week. Scores on the LTEQ can be computed
for weekly exercise activity in terms of METs, a
unit indicating a participant’s resting metabolic
rate. The number of days a week reported for each
intensity level was multiplied by a constant given
to each level of intensity of exercise (strenuous =
9; moderate = 5; mild = 3), and the products of the
moderate and strenuous subscales were summed
to give a score of METs per week for each
participant. A preliminary study showed the mild
subscale to be prone to extreme outliers, and it
was not included in analyses. Prior studies with
college samples have also excluded the mild
subscale (Andersson & Moss, 2011; Rhodes &
Courneya, 2005). Additionally, participants were
asked how many times during a typical week they
partake in moderate-to-strenuous physical activity
for more than 15 minutes during their free time.
Because the pattern of results using this question
was similar to results using the LTEQ moderate
and strenuous total score, only results involving
the LTEQ are reported.
Academic motivation. The Learning Self-
Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-L; Black & Deci,
2000) assesses levels of autonomous and controlled
motivation for studying. Participants responded to
12 statements addressing why they participate in
class and make efforts to study outside of class. This
was used as a filler questionnaire to mask the focus
on exercise and was not analysed.
Exercise attitudes. Attitudes towards exercise
were assessed with a scale used by Rhodes and
Courneya (2005). Participants were asked to
USING MEMORIES TO MOTIVATE FUTURE BEHAVIOUR 5
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7. indicate the degree to which they would describe
exercise with six pairs of adjectives of opposing
valence. These adjectives were displayed on
opposite ends of 7-point, bipolar scales. Three
items addressed instrumental attitudes (useful–
useless; wise–foolish; beneficial–harmful), and
three addressed affective attitudes (enjoyable–
unenjoyable; interesting–boring; relaxing–stress-
ful). At Time 1, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients
were .66 for the instrumental attitudes subscale
and .85 for the affective attitudes subscale. At
Time 2, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were .77 for
the instrumental attitudes subscale and .87 for the
affective attitudes subscale.
Qualities of memory. The Memory Characteristics
Questionnaire (MCQ; Johnson, Foley, Suengas, &
Raye, 1988) was used to examine the phenomeno-
logical characteristics of reported memories. Items
were selected from MCQ items used in a previous
study of characteristics of memories of positive and
negative valence (Comblain, D’Argembeu, & Van
der Linden, 2005). As in prior research (Johnson
et al., 1988), students rated their memories along
several dimensions, including vividness (1 = vague;
7 = very vivid), and intensity of positive (1 = none;
7 = very intense) and negative (1 = none; 7 = very
intense) feelings when the event occurred. Two
additional questions targeted emotions felt when
remembering the event (1 = mainly negative;
7 = mainly positive), and how typical the event was
(1 = not at all typical; 7 = very typical), and two
questions addressed the degree to which the indi-
vidual felt their needs of autonomy and competence
were met in their memories. Need satisfaction was
not analysed as part of the present study. Partici-
pants were also asked to give their age at the time of
the memory.
Behavioural intentions to exercise. Intentions to
exercise were measured with a behavioural fre-
quency question adapted from Verplanken and
Melkevik (2008). The question asked how many
times a week the participant would like to partake
in moderate-to-strenuous physical exercise for
more than 15 minutes during the semester. It
specified the intensity and duration of intended
exercise in order to correspond more closely to
our measure of exercise behaviour, a procedure
recommended in studies comparing intentions to
behaviour (Sutton, 1998). Three additional
questions focused on the strength of participants’
intentions to exercise at the level specified in their
response to the frequency question. Because the
frequency question provides a straightforward
quantitative assessment of intentions to exercise
whose wording closely parallels that of the assess-
ment of leisure-time physical activity, this question
was used as the measure of exercise intentions in
all analyses.
Behavioural intentions to study. This scale
was adapted from the exercise scale used by
Verplanken and Melkevik (2008), but it focused
on studying instead of exercise. It was used as a
filler questionnaire and was not analysed.
Request for more information. Participants were
asked to indicate whether they would like to
receive information about exercise opportunities
on campus, healthy dining opportunities, both
exercise and healthy dining opportunities, or if
they would prefer not to receive additional
information. Participants were also asked to state
the reason for their choice. These items were
designed to examine whether recalling an exercise
memory might affect behaviour across related
domains (exercise and healthy eating) as is sug-
gested by the results of Selimbegovic et al. (2011).
To disguise the intentions of the study, this
measure was administered only at Time 2, and
after measures of exercise intentions and reported
exercise behaviours had been completed.
Explicit use of memories as motivation. Two
items assessed whether or not participants con-
sciously used the memories they described in Time
1 as motivation to exercise between Time 1 and
Time 2. One item asked if there were any
strategies the participant used in order to motivate
him or herself over the past week, and if so, to
describe them. A second item asked specifically if
the participant recalled or thought about the
memory described at Time 1 in order to motivate
him or herself to exercise over the past week
(1 = Yes; 2 = No; 3 = I was not asked to describe a
memory in the first study session).
Procedure
Participants read an overview of the study prior to
signing up on the university’s online research
6 BIONDOLILLO AND PILLEMER
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8. participation system. They were randomly
assigned to conditions (positive memory, negative
memory and control) and sent an electronic link to
the study. After consenting to participate, all
participants provided demographic information
and then completed the questionnaires online in
a fixed order: (1) Exercise satisfaction; (2) Aca-
demic satisfaction; (3) BREQ; (4) LTEQ;
(5) Attitudes and (6) SRQ-L. Next, participants
in the positive and negative memory conditions
responded to the following prompt (negative in
parentheses):
In the space below, please describe a specific
experience from any time in your life when
you felt especially pleased and satisfied (dis-
pleased and dissatisfied) during or after some
type of physical exercise or activity. This
experience should be a MOTIVATIONAL
MEMORY, a memory you feel would be
particularly helpful in motivating you to exer-
cise. Your memory should be about a positive
(negative) experience that happened at a
particular time and place. Please be as specific
and as detailed as possible when describing
your memory of this experience.
Participants then rated phenomenological qualit-
ies of their memory using selected items from the
MCQ. Control group participants did not receive a
memory prompt. Finally, all participants completed
two short measures: behavioural intentions to exer-
cise and behavioural intentions to study.
Eight days after completion of the first session,
participants were emailed a link to the second
session and were given up to six days to respond.
The second session included follow-up assess-
ments that were administered in the same order
as at Time 1: (1) Exercise satisfaction; (2) Aca-
demic satisfaction; (3) BREQ; (4) LTEQ;
(5) Attitudes and (6) SRQ-L. Next, they com-
pleted an assessment of behavioural intentions to
exercise and were asked about their desire to
receive information about on-campus exercise and
healthy dining opportunities. Participants were
then asked to list the strategies they used to
motivate themselves to exercise since the first
session and to indicate whether or not they had
thought about the memory described at Time 1 in
order to motivate themselves. Finally, participants
were debriefed and thanked for participating.
RESULTS
Preliminary analyses
Pearson’s correlations were computed for the four
subscales of the BREQ at both Time 1 and Time
2. In prior research using this measure, subscales
most closely related to one another in terms of
degree of self-determination were more highly
correlated. The measure’s authors (Mullan et al.,
1997) suggest confirming this association before
collapsing the subscales. At both Times 1 and 2,
these subscales showed the same pattern of
associations found in prior studies (for example,
Standage et al., 2008).
Participants’ memory ratings indicated that the
probes were effective. They judged positive mem-
ories to be more positive (M = 6.02, SD = 1.13)
and less negative (M = 2.11, SD = 1.38) than
negative memories (M = 2.63, SD = 1.46 for
positive feelings; M = 5.58, SD = 1.38 for negative
feelings), t(119) = 14.32, p < .001 for positive
feelings; t(119) = −13.82, p < .001 for negative
feelings. Additionally, when asked how the mem-
ory made them feel in the moment, participants in
the positive memory condition felt more positive
(M = 6.20, SD = 1.10) than participants in the
negative memory condition (M = 3.09, SD = 1.54),
t(119) = 12.91, p < .001.
The memory and control groups were com-
pared on the number of days between completion
of Time 1 and Time 2 assessments to ensure that
any observed effects could not be attributed to
systematic differences in the length of time
between test sessions. Groups did not differ
significantly on the timing of their completion of
Time 2 relative to Time 1, F(2, 183) = .418, p = .66.
Memory intervention
Primary analyses included the following steps:
(1) tests of Time 1 pre-intervention group differ-
ences on all variables; (2) tests of memory inter-
vention effects on Time 1 and Time 2 intentions to
exercise and Time 2 reported exercise behaviours;
(3) tests of memory intervention effects when
controlling for Time 1 baseline exercise activity
and (4) tests of memory intervention effects when
controlling for pre-existing participant differences
in Time 1 baseline exercise activity, autonomous
exercise motivation, prior attitudes, exercise satis-
faction and athletic team status.
USING MEMORIES TO MOTIVATE FUTURE BEHAVIOUR 7
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9. To examine the equivalency of groups on
measures given before the memory prompts, a
series of one-way ANOVAs was run for Time 1
exercise satisfaction, autonomous and controlled
motivation, LTEQ exercise behaviour, instru-
mental attitudes towards exercise and affective
attitudes towards exercise. There were no signific-
ant a-priori differences found for any of these
variables. Despite random assignment to groups,
differences on Time 1 LTEQ scores approached
significance, F(2, 183) = 2.73, p = .068, η2
= .03
(positive memory group M = 48.06, SD = 23.36;
negative memory group M = 43.42, SD = 24.54;
control group M = 38.17, SD = 24.29).2
The effects of recalling a motivational memory
on Time 1 and Time 2 intentions to exercise and
Time 2 reported exercise behaviour were tested
using analysis of variance. Consistent with predic-
tions, the memory intervention had a positive
impact on both intentions and behaviours. The
effect of the memory intervention on Time 1
exercise intentions was significant, F(2, 183) =
4.36, p = .014, η2
= .05. Post-hoc Tukey’s HSD
tests revealed that mean Time 1 exercise inten-
tions were higher in the positive memory group
(M = 4.88, SD = 1.76) than the control group (M =
4.05, SD = 1.70), p = .013, 95% CI [.14, 1.51]. The
mean of the negative group (M = 4.66, SD = 1.44)
did not differ significantly from the means of the
positive group or control group. The effect of the
memory intervention was also apparent in Time 2
exercise intentions, F(2, 183) = 3.19, p = .043,
η2
= .03. Post-hoc Tukey’s HSD tests revealed that
mean Time 2 exercise intentions were significantly
higher in positive memory group (M = 4.73,
SD = 1.69) than the control group (M = 3.97,
SD = 1.87), p = .05, 95% CI [0.00, 1.53]. The mean
of the negative group (M = 4.61, SD = 1.96) did
not differ significantly from the mean of the
positive group or control group. In addition, the
effect of the memory intervention on Time 2
reported exercise behaviour was significant,
F(2, 183) = 7.18, p = .001, η2
= .07. Post-hoc
Tukey’s HSD tests revealed that the mean of the
positive memory group (M = 54.95, SD = 24.26)
differed significantly from the control group
(M = 37.31, SD = 26.09), p = .001, 95% CI [6.62,
28.67], whereas the mean of the negative group
did not differ significantly from either the positive
or control group (M = 47.05, SD = 29.25).
Follow-up analyses of covariance were con-
ducted controlling for Time 1 LTEQ baseline
exercise scores.3
The effect of the memory inter-
vention on Time 1 and Time 2 intentions was not
significant. Consistent with predictions, the inter-
vention had a significant effect on Time 2 LTEQ
exercise behaviour scores, F(2, 182) = 4.53,
p = .012, g2
p ¼ .05. Post-hoc Tukey’s LSD tests
showed that the estimated marginal mean of the
positive group (M = 50.97, SE = 2.25) was
significantly higher than that of the control group
(M = 41.40, SE = 2.23), p = .003, 95% CI [3.28,
15.86]; the difference between the estimated mean
of the negative group (M = 46.86, SE = 2.36) and
the control group approached significance
(p = .095).
Next, the effects of the memory intervention on
exercise intentions and behaviours were tested
when controlling for Time 1 LTEQ scores, affect-
ive and instrumental attitudes and autonomous
exercise motivation. The effect of memory condi-
tion on Time 1 exercise intentions approached
significance, F(2, 179) = 2.64, p = .074, g2
p ¼ .03
(positive group estimated marginal M = 4.73, SE =
.18; negative group M = 4.67, SE = .19; control
group M = 4.19, SE = .18). The effect of memory
condition on Time 2 exercise intentions was not
statistically significant. Consistent with predictions,
the effect of memory condition on Time 2
reported exercise activity was statistically signific-
ant, F(2, 179) = 4.93, p = .008, g2
p ¼ .05. Post-hoc
Tukey’s LSD tests revealed that the estimated
marginal mean of the positive group (M = 50.63,
SE = 2.14) differed significantly from the control
group (M = 41.23, SE = 2.13), p = .002, 95% CI
[3.39, 15.41]; the difference between the estimated
marginal mean of the negative group (M = 47.44,
SE = 2.26) and the control group also reached
significance, p = .047, 95% CI [.08, 12.34].
To examine if participants’ ratings of exercise
satisfaction at Time 1 moderated the effect of the
2
Exploratory analyses of Time 2 affective attitudes, instru-
mental attitudes and autonomous exercise motivation also
failed to identify significant differences between the memory
and control groups.
3
Although the ANCOVA assumption of homogeneity of
regression was violated for the analysis of Time 2 intentions,
the violation was modest: Correlations between Time 1 LTEQ
scores and Time 2 exercise intentions are positive and signific-
ant in all three memory conditions, but the correlation is
somewhat smaller for the positive group (r(62) = .31,
p = .014) than for the negative (r(55) = .56, p < .001) and
control (r(63) = .68, p < .001) groups.
8 BIONDOLILLO AND PILLEMER
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10. memory manipulation, this variable was added as
a covariate. Controlling for prior participant char-
acteristics including exercise satisfaction produced,
a similar pattern of results: the effect of condition
on Time 2 reported exercise behaviour was stat-
istically significant, the effect of condition on Time
1 intentions to exercise approached significance
and the effect of condition on Time 2 intentions to
exercise was not significant. When a term repre-
senting the interaction between memory condition
and exercise satisfaction was added as a covariate,
the effect of the interaction failed to reach signi-
ficance and the addition of the interaction term
did not change the pattern of results. This indi-
cated that the memory intervention influenced
exercise activity regardless of participants’ satis-
faction with their initial level of exercise.
To determine if participants’ status as an ath-
lete at the university affected results, analyses
were conducted for non-athletes only; the overall
pattern of results was unchanged.
As an additional illustration of the effect of the
memory intervention on Time 2 reported exercise,
a categorical variable was created that reflected
whether Time 2 LTEQ scores had increased,
decreased or remained the same in comparison
to Time 1 LTEQ scores. This analysis confirmed
the results of the ANCOVAs, showing elevated
Time 2 exercise activity in the positive memory
group and, to a lesser extent, the negative memory
group. Within the positive memory condition, 61%
of participants increased their reported exercise
activity over the intervention period, compared to
49% in the negative memory condition and 37%
in the control condition. Similarly, 19% of partici-
pants in the positive memory condition had a
decrease in reported exercise activity over the
intervention period compared to 30% in the
negative memory condition and 34% in the con-
trol condition.
Near the end of the Time 2 session, students
were asked if they would like to receive informa-
tion about on-campus exercise opportunities and/
or healthy dining opportunities. A majority of
students (60%) expressed a desire to receive
more information, and group differences in the
frequency of these requests were not statistically
significant.
Explicit use of memories as motivation
Two questions examined whether participants
consciously used the motivational memories that
they described at Time 1 when exercising. An
open-ended question asked how they had moti-
vated themselves to exercise over the intervention
period. Similar to the results of Kuwabara and
Pillemer (2010), not a single participant in the
memory groups volunteered that they used mem-
ories of any kind for motivation. When asked
directly if they had thought about the memory
recalled at Time 1 in order to motivate themselves
to exercise during the intervention period, 36% of
participants in the positive memory condition and
21% of participants in the negative memory
condition answered affirmatively. Surprisingly,
18% of participants in the control group also
reported thinking about the memory they had
recalled at Time 1, when in fact they had not been
instructed to describe a specific motivational
memory. When all students who reported using
their Time 1 memory for motivation were omitted
from our main analyses, the predicted significant
memory condition differences in Time 2 reported
exercise activity were still evident.
DISCUSSION
This study examined whether recalling a past
exercise episode identified as motivational would
increase intentions to exercise and self-reported
exercise activity. As predicted, students in the
positive memory condition reported significantly
higher levels of subsequent exercise activity than
students in the control group, and this effect
was evident when controlling for prior reported
exercise behaviour, prior attitudes, autonomous
exercise motivation and exercise satisfaction. Con-
sistent with prior research (Kuwabara & Pillemer,
2010), students in the negative memory condition
reported intermediate exercise levels. Students in
the positive memory condition also showed the
predicted elevated Time 1 intentions to exercise,
although this effect only approached statistical
significance when controlling for pre-existing par-
ticipant differences. Memory group differences in
intentions to exercise at Time 2 were statistically
significant, but these effects were absent when
controlling for pre-treatment differences. Counter
to expectations, the effect of memory on Time 2
exercise activity was not more pronounced for
students with lower initial levels of exercise satis-
faction. Finally, the memory intervention did not
affect students’ preferences for obtaining addi-
tional information about exercise and healthy
dining.
USING MEMORIES TO MOTIVATE FUTURE BEHAVIOUR 9
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11. Our results support prior research and theory
indicating that memories of specific past episodes
may direct future behaviours (Addis, Wong, &
Schacter, 2008; Bluck et al., 2005; Pezdek & Salim,
2011; Pillemer, 1998, 2003; Schacter et al., 2007).
In the present study, a single memory prompt
increased reported exercise activities in a sample
of undergraduate students who were recruited for
a questionnaire study ostensibly about college
activity choices. As in previous research on other
topics (Kuwabara & Pillemer, 2010; Philippe et al.,
2013), the link between memory and exercise
activity was apparent even after controlling for
general attitudes. These effects were observed
even though students were not given explicit
encouragement to increase their exercise activities
or to use the memory they described as a motiva-
tional tool.
Although it is possible that students in the
motivational memory conditions increased their
reported exercise activities because they inferred
that this was the researchers’ intent, this explana-
tion seems unlikely for several reasons. First, the
study was presented as an examination of student
activity choices, and students also completed filler
questionnaires focusing on academic rather than
exercise behaviours. Second, the memory ques-
tions were only a small part of the entire survey,
and students would have had to pinpoint their
special significance. Third, when asked how they
had motivated themselves to exercise over the
intervention period, no students volunteered that
they had used memory for this purpose. Finally,
when asked directly if they had used their memory
as motivation, only a minority of students
answered affirmatively, and the overall pattern of
group differences was unchanged with these stu-
dents omitted from the analyses.
The evidence suggests that increases in
reported exercise behaviours were not attributable
to purposeful mnemonic activities. This interpreta-
tion is consistent with Kuwabara and Pillemer’s
(2010) finding that remembering a positive uni-
versity experience increased donations to the
university without students consciously identifying
a connection between their memories and their
donations. Pezdek and Salim (2011) proposed that
recalling specific autobiographical memories
primes relevant aspects of the active self-concept,
which in turn influences subsequent behaviours. In
the present study, recalling a positive memory may
have prompted positive feelings about the self as it
relates to exercise, which in turn increased inten-
tions to exercise and subsequent exercise
activities. These activated positive feelings and
intentions could have led to the significant differ-
ences in reported exercise behaviours in the days
following the intervention without the necessity of
purposefully revisiting the memory. With respect
to the more modest effects of negative motiva-
tional memory activation on reported exercise
activities, these memories may have activated
general self-related feelings about the need to
improve in the domain of exercise, just as low-
closure memories of a failure to donate to charity
increased donation behaviours (Beike et al., 2010).
In addition, spontaneous or fleeting memory
activation may have occurred when making exer-
cise decisions, but these involuntary memory
activities (Berntsen, 2009) may not have been
identified by participants as purposefully recalling
or thinking about the memory in order to motivate
themselves to exercise.
The effect of remembering a prior positive
motivational exercise episode on reported exercise
behaviours was evident despite the modest scope
of the intervention. Students responded only to a
single request to describe a personal motivational
memory, and this request was embedded in a
broader survey. They were not asked to use the
memory in their daily lives as motivation to
increase their exercise activities. Future studies
should assess the success of exercise programmes
that explicitly encourage or train participants to
regularly activate emotional memories as a moti-
vational tool. More intensive interventions could
result in greater and longer lasting increases in
exercise activities. In addition, effects could be
more pronounced in new studies where partici-
pants are actively seeking to improve their health
and fitness. Interventions that focus on activating
existing memories should be relatively easy to
administer and cost-effective.
This study has several limitations. First, the
sample consisted of educated, young, predomi-
nantly female and Caucasian individuals. The
results should be replicated in more heterogen-
eous samples, including participants who are act-
ively seeking to increase their exercise and those
who do not have ready access to university
exercise facilities.
Second, despite random assignment of students
to conditions, pre-intervention group differences
in baseline exercise activities approached signific-
ance. When controlling for Time 1 LTEQ scores,
substantial memory group effects were still appar-
ent. Because the positive memory group had the
highest level of initial exercise activity, the present
10 BIONDOLILLO AND PILLEMER
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12. results may underestimate the likely effect of the
intervention on participants whose baseline level
of activity is more moderate.
Finally, this study relied on self-report measures
of exercise, which raises the question of how
accurately participant responses represented veri-
fiable behaviours. The widely used measure of
exercise activity (LTEQ) has shown moderate
validity in past research (Godin & Shephard,
1985); scores correlate highly with exercise
registered by portable activity monitors (Miller,
Freedson, & Kline, 1994). Nevertheless, the
experimental treatment in the present study could
have influenced self-reports without substantially
increasing actual exercise activities. Although the
LTEQ appears to be a reasonable proxy for actual
behaviours, future studies should also include
observable exercise outcomes whenever possible.
In conclusion, this study underscores the power
of memory’s directive influence in a new domain
with practical applications: exercise behaviours.
The effect of recalling a single motivational exer-
cise memory was evident over and above the
predictive power of past behaviour, autonomous
motivation, attitudes and exercise satisfaction.
Without explicit direction or encouragement, our
sample of college students, amidst the innumer-
able distractions afforded by life at a large, public
university, increased their reported exercise activ-
ities from their habitual levels. These results
provide the first experimental evidence that auto-
biographical memory activation can be an effect-
ive tool in motivating individuals to adopt
healthier lifestyles.
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