Enhanced mnemonic discrimination for emotional memories: the role of arousal in interference resolution.

In the present study we investigated the long-standing question whether and why emotionally arousing memories are more distinct as compared to neutral experiences. We assumed that memory benefits from the distinctiveness of emotional information, and that emotions affect encoding by reducing interfe...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Memory & Cognition Vol. 48; no. 6; pp. 1032 - 1046
Autores principales: Szőllősi, Ágnes, Racsmány, Mihály
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Aug2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=144745756&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 144745756
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        0090502X
        MEG
      jtl: Memory & Cognition
      issn: 0090502X
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Aug2020
      vid: 48
      iid: 6
      pid: 237
      pub: Springer Nature
    artinfo:
      ui:
        144745756
        10.3758/s13421-020-01035-3
      ppf: 1032
      ppct: 14
      formats:
        fmt:
          – @attributes:
              type: T
          – @attributes:
              type: P
              size: 3.2MB
      tig:
        atl: Enhanced mnemonic discrimination for emotional memories: the role of arousal in interference resolution.
      aug:
        au:
          Szőllősi, Ágnes
          Racsmány, Mihály
        affil:
          Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Egry Jozsef utca 1, 1111, Budapest, Hungary
          Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
      su:
        Arousal (Physiology)
        Emotions
        Experience
        Memory
        Task performance
        Hippocampus physiology
        Visual perception
      sug:
        subj:
          Arousal (Physiology)
          Emotions
          Experience
          Memory
          Task performance
          Hippocampus physiology
          Visual perception
      keyword:
        Arousal
        Emotion
        Hippocampus
        Interference
        Pattern separation
        Arousal
        Emotion
        Hippocampus
        Interference
        Pattern separation
      ab: In the present study we investigated the long-standing question whether and why emotionally arousing memories are more distinct as compared to neutral experiences. We assumed that memory benefits from the distinctiveness of emotional information, and that emotions affect encoding by reducing interference among overlapping memory representations. Since pattern separation is the process which minimizes interference between memory representations with similar features, we examined the behavioral manifestation of putative neural mechanisms enabling pattern separation (i.e. mnemonic discrimination) for emotionally arousing materials using the Mnemonic Similarity Task with negative, positive, and neutral images as stimuli. Immediately after incidental encoding, subjects were presented with stimuli they had seen at encoding and also with new items. Crucially, participants were also presented with lure images that were visually similar to ones they had seen before. Response options were old, new, and similar. Our results showed that individuals were better in discriminating between similar, emotionally arousing memories, when compared to the neutral stimuli. Moreover, this so-called lure discrimination performance was better for the negative images, than it was for the positive stimuli. Finally, we showed that the high arousing negative stimuli were better separated than the low arousing negative stimuli, and a similar pattern of results was found for the positive items. Altogether, these findings suggest that lure discrimination is modulated by arousal and not by valence. We argue that noradrenergic activity might facilitate interference resolution among memory representations with similar features, and that superior pattern separation might play a key role in memory enhancement for emotional experiences.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N