Cognitive and neural mechanisms of emotional memory

The effects of glucose dose and dual-task performance on memory for emotional material☆

“…However recently research [11] failed to replicate this advantage for positive material using the same stimulus items as a previous study [9]. It seems apparent therefore, that the memorial advantage associated with positive material is inconsistent, unlike that for emotionally negative material [5] which further suggests that it is negatively-valenced material which is the predominant factor in driving the emotional enhancement effect in recognition memory.…”

“…The emotional enhancement effect refers to the often reported finding that emotional stimuli are more memorable than their more neutral counterparts (for a review, see [5]). This emotional enhancement effect has been demonstrated across a range of memory measures such as recognition memory [6,7] and recall [8] and has also been found using a range of stimulus variables including both words [9] and pictures [10].…”

Sleep restriction can attenuate prioritization benefits on declarative memory consolidation

“…Prioritization can enhance memory in the form of emotional salience (Hamann, 2001), evolutionary significance (Nairne et al ., 2008), or reward (Castel et al ., 2007), as in the present study. Here, we show that beneficial effects of reward on memory, as indicated by better memory for HL versus nHL content, are present a few minutes, 1 week, and even 6 weeks after encoding.…”

“…Even though a prioritization benefit was present minutes after encoding, the temporal evolution of the prioritization effect suggests that the beneficial effects of prioritization on memory occur during consolidation processes (Hamann, 2001; McGaugh, 2000), rather than encoding processes. While the latter could result from a preferential allocation of study time (Castel et al ., 2002) to HL versus nHL content, our results are consistent with an account of dopaminergic modulation of hippocampal‐based consolidation, with dopamine likely affecting hippocampal plasticity and memory during the hours after encoding (Shohamy and Adcock, 2010), and especially during sleep (Perogamvros and Schwartz, 2012).…”

Brief Report: Attenuated Emotional Suppression of the Attentional Blink in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Another Non-Social Abnormality?

“…It plays an important role in our emotional lives regardless of whether we are alone or in the company of othersmodulating learning and memory (e.g. LeDoux, 1994;Hamann, 2001;McGaugh, 2000;Phelps, 2004), altering decisions (e.g. Bechara, Damasio & Damasio, 2003;Bechara, Tranel, Damasio & Damasio, 1996) and influencing perceptions of the world (e.g.…”