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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emotion and memory | 5/5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion_and_memory | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T11:04:24.054436+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Emotion regulation effects on memory == An interesting issue in the study of the emotion-memory relationship is whether our emotions are influenced by our behavioral reaction to them, and whether this reaction—in the form of expression or suppression of the emotion—might affect what we remember about an event. Researchers have begun to examine whether concealing feelings influences our ability to perform common cognitive tasks, such as forming memories, and found that the emotion regulation efforts do have cognitive consequences. In the seminal work on negative affect arousal and white noise, Seidner found support for the existence of a negative affect arousal mechanism through observations regarding the devaluation of speakers from other ethnic origins." In a study of Richards and Gross (1999) and Tiwari (2013), participants viewed slides of injured men that produced increases in negative emotions, while information concerning each man was presented orally with his slide. The participants were assigned to either an expressive suppression group (where they were asked to refrain from showing emotion while watching the slides) or to a control group (where they were not given regulatory instructions at all). As predicted by the researchers, suppressors showed significantly worse performance on a memory test for the orally presented information. In another study, it was investigated whether expressive suppression (i.e., keeping one's emotions subdued) comes with a cognitive price. They measured expressive suppression when it spontaneously occurred while watching a movie of surgeries. After the movie, memory was tested and was found to be worse with a higher usage of suppression. In a second study, another movie was shown of people arguing. Memory of the conversation was then measured. When gauging the magnitude of cognitive cost, expressive suppression was compared with self-distraction, which was described as simply not trying to think about something. It was concluded that experimentally-induced suppression was associated with worse memory. There is evidence that emotion enhances memory but is more specific towards arousal and valence factors. To test this theory, arousal and valence were assessed for over 2,820 words. Both negative and positive stimuli were remembered higher than neutral stimuli. Arousal also did not predict recognition memory. In this study, the importance of stimulus controls and experimental designs in research memory was highlighted. Arousal-related activities when affiliated with heightened heart rate (HR) stimulate prediction of memory enhancement. It was hypothesized that tonic elevations in HR (meaning revitalization in HR) and phasic HR (meaning quick reaction) declaration to help the memory. Fifty-three men's heart rates were measured while looking at unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant pictures and their memory tested two days later. It was concluded that tonic elevations created more accurate memory recall. Several related studies have reached similar results. It was demonstrated that the effects of expressive suppression on memory generalize to emotionally positive experiences and to socially relevant contexts. One possible answer to the question "why does emotion suppression impair memory?" might lay in the self monitoring efforts invested in order to suppress emotion (thinking about the behavior one is trying to control). A recent study found heightened self- monitoring efforts among suppressors relative to control participants. That is, suppressors were more likely to report thinking about their behavior and the need to control it during a conversation. Increases in self-monitoring predicted decreases in memory for what was said, that is, people who reported thinking a lot about controlling their behavior had particularly impoverished memories. However, additional research is needed to confirm whether self-monitoring actually exerts a causal effect on memory
== Emotion-induced forgetting ==
Emotionally arousing stimuli can lead to retrograde amnesia for preceding events and anterograde amnesia for subsequent events. This has been demonstrated in lab studies with lists of words or pictures, in which people show impaired memory for stimuli appearing before or after arousing stimuli.
== Depression and memory == Memory recall tends to be congruent with one's current mood, with depressed people more likely to recall negative events from the past. In addition, depression is often associated with poor memory in general, as outlined here.
== Dementia and emotional memory == Several studies have demonstrated emotional memory enhancement in Alzheimer's patients suggesting that emotional memory enhancement might be used in the daily management of Alzheimer's patients. One study found that objects are recalled significantly better in Alzheimer's patients if they were presented as birthday presents to AD patients.
== Aging and emotional memory == The enhancing effects of emotional arousal on later memory recall tend to be maintained among older adults and the amygdala shows relatively less decline than many other brain regions. However, older adults also show somewhat of a shift towards favoring positive over negative information in memory, leading to a positivity effect.
== Emotional memory and sleep == Emotional memory and sleep has been a well-researched association. Emotional memories are consolidated greater during sleep, rather than neutral memories. Studies have investigated high valence and arousing words, in comparison to neutral words. Sleep enhances the consolidation of the high valence and arousing words and therefore these are remembered more post-sleep. This concept has been demonstrated in many studies using a variety of media such as pictures, film clips, and words. Memories of 'future relevance' are also consolidated greater during sleep. In a study by Wilhelm et al., 2011, memories of items that participants knew were needed for the future (for the testing session) were remembered more after sleep. Sleep consolidated these memories of future relevance to a greater extent. Memories that are emotionally significant and relevant for the future are therefore preferentially consolidated during sleep. This can translate to mean that memories that are more meaningful or valuable to a person are consolidated more. The concept of emotional memory and sleep can be applied to real-life situations e.g. by developing more effective learning strategies. One could integrate the memorization of information that possesses high emotional significance (highly salient) with information that holds little emotional significance (low salience), prior to a period of sleep.
== See also ==
== Notes and references ==
Drace, S (2013). "Evidence for the role of affect in mood congruent recall of autobiographic memories". Motivation & Emotion. 37 (3): 623–628. doi:10.1007/s11031-012-9322-5. S2CID 145403018. Erk, S.; Kiefer, M.; Grothe, J.; Wunderlich, A. P.; Spitzer, M.; Walter, H. (2003). "Emotional context modulates subsequent memory effect". NeuroImage. 18 (2): 439–447. doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(02)00015-0. PMID 12595197. S2CID 42526060. Lewis, P. A.; Critchley, H. D. (2003). "Mood-dependent memory". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 7 (10): 431–433. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2003.08.005. PMID 14550485. S2CID 5926387. Long, N. M.; Danoff, M. S.; Kahana, M. J. (2015). "Recall dynamics reveal the retrieval of emotional context". Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 22 (5): 1328–1333. doi:10.3758/s13423-014-0791-2. PMC 4547905. PMID 25604771. Steinmetz, K. M.; Kensinger, E. A. (2013). "The emotion-induced memory trade-off: More than an effect of overt attention?". Memory & Cognition. 41 (1): 69–81. doi:10.3758/s13421-012-0247-8. PMID 22948959.