“Experimental Amnesia” Induced by Emotional Items

Angelini, R.; Capozzoli, F.; Lépore, Pía; Grossi, Dario; Orsini, A.

doi:10.2466/pms.1994.78.1.19

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We favor the latter in view of the enduring nature of the amnesia we observe in the E-2 effect. Note that previously reported retrograde amnesia effects (11,23) were limited in temporal duration, spanning the order of 1 s. Our data show that an emotional manipulation leads to a robust retrograde effect that spans at least 6 s or two stimuli. A group (patient, control) ϫ oddball type (emotional, perceptual) ϫ position (oddball-1, oddball, oddball ϩ 1) 2 ϫ 2 ϫ 3 ANOVA (assumes variance in patient population is equal to that in normals) revealed a significant group ϫ oddball interaction (F 1.0, 1.0 ϭ 196.6 P Ͻ 0.05) and a trend for the group ϫ oddball ϫ position interaction (F 1.0, 1.0 ϭ 60.0 P ϭ 0.08).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

“…Thus, memory for E-1 nouns was significantly impaired relative to P-1 nouns. Note that distinctiveness of emotional stimuli is a potential confound in previous investigations of emotion-induced memory disruption (6,10,11,25). Furthermore, the blocking effect of propranolol on the enhancement of memory for E nouns cannot be explained in terms of a blockade of enhanced memory for oddball stimuli (the von Restorff effect; ref.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ecological studies show that details of an event are less likely to be remembered if followed by an emotional event (10). In experimental contexts a weak, although unreliable, effect on words presented in close proximity to potentially emotional items is reported (11). By contrast to the extensive literature on emotional enhancements in memory, nothing is known regarding the neurobiological processes accounting for emotion-induced impairments in memory.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

See 2 more Smart Citations

An emotion-induced retrograde amnesia in humans is amygdala- and β-adrenergic-dependent

Strange

Hurlemann

Dolan

2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

245

317

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The influence of emotion on human memory is associated with two contradictory effects in the form of either emotion-induced enhancements or decrements in memory. In a series of experiments involving single word presentation, we show that enhanced memory for emotional words is strongly coupled to decrements in memory for items preceding the emotional stimulus, an effect that is more pronounced in women. These memory effects would appear to depend on a common neurobiological substrate, in that enhancements and decrements are reversed by propranolol, a ␤-adrenergic antagonist, and abolished by selective bilateral amygdala damage. Thus, our findings suggest that amygdaladependent ␤-adrenergic modulation of episodic encoding has costs as well as benefits. Substantial evidence indicates that enhanced memory for emotional experience engages a ␤-adrenergic system (1). ␤-Adrenergic blockade with the ␤ 1 ␤ 2 -antatgonist propranolol selectively impairs long-term human episodic memory for emotionally arousing material without affecting memory for a neutral story (2). This modulation of emotional memory by propranolol is centrally mediated, because peripheral ␤-adrenergic blockade has no such effect on emotional memory function (3). Human amygdala lesions also produce emotional memory impairment (4, 5), suggesting that this structure may represent a critical locus for propranolol's influence on emotional memory.Although emotionality is strongly associated with enhancements in memory, there is evidence for emotion-induced memory decrements (6,7). Human behavioral studies demonstrate enhanced memory for central details of an emotional event and memory suppression for peripheral details (8,9). Ecological studies show that details of an event are less likely to be remembered if followed by an emotional event (10). In experimental contexts a weak, although unreliable, effect on words presented in close proximity to potentially emotional items is reported (11). By contrast to the extensive literature on emotional enhancements in memory, nothing is known regarding the neurobiological processes accounting for emotion-induced impairments in memory.In a series of related experiments, we present psychological (Exp. 1), psychopharmacological (Exp. 2) and neuropsychological (Exp. 3) data that characterize the psychological and neurobiological properties of emotion-induced forgetting. Our first aim was to establish a behavioral index of emotion-evoked memory enhancement and impairment. In an initial behavioral memory experiment (Exp. 1), nouns were presented serially, every 3 s, in semantically related lists, and recall was tested after each list presentation. Each list, in this and subsequent experiments, contained two ''oddball'' nouns: an emotionally aversive noun (E noun) and a perceptual oddball noun (P noun), presented in a novel font (Fig. 1a). In line with previous observations (1, 6), memory for emotional items is enhanced relative to control nouns. Critically, items preceding E nouns (E-1 nouns) are recalled less well than cont...

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An emotion-induced retrograde amnesia in humans is amygdala- and β-adrenergic-dependent

Strange

Hurlemann

Dolan

2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

245

317

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The retrograde and anterograde amnesic potential of emotional events (Tulving, 1969;Loftus and Burns, 1982;Christianson, 1984;Angelini et al, 1994) has attracted less neurobiological attention. Strange et al (2003) showed that enhanced recall of aversive nouns is coupled to enhanced forgetting of preceding neutral nouns, with both effects eliminated by propranolol.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noradrenergic Modulation of Emotion-Induced Forgetting and Remembering

Hurlemann¹,

Hawellek²,

Matusch³

et al. 2005

J. Neurosci.

147

207

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We used a free-recall paradigm to establish a behavioral index of the retrograde and anterograde interference of emotion with episodic memory encoding. In two experiments involving 78 subjects, we show that negatively valenced items elicit retrograde amnesia, whereas positively valenced items elicit retrograde hypermnesia. These data indicate item valence is critical in determining retrograde amnesia and retrograde hypermnesia. In contrast, we show that item arousal induces an anterograde amnesic effect, consistent with the idea that a valence-evoked arousal mechanism compromises anterograde episodic encoding. Randomized double-blind administration of the ␤-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol compared with the selective norepinephrine (NE) reuptake-inhibitor reboxetine, and placebo, demonstrated that the magnitude of this emotional amnesia and hypermnesia can be upregulated and downregulated as a function of emotional arousal and central NE signaling. We conclude that a differential processing of emotional arousal and valence influences how the brain remembers and forgets.

show abstract

“…Experimentally, emotion-induced amnesia can be modeled by oddball paradigms where privileged encoding of an emotional oddball into episodic memory (the emotional von Restorff effect; von Restorff 1933; Wallace 1965) disrupts encoding of preceding and following neutral stimuli (Tulving 1969;Detterman 1975;Angelini et al 1994), particularly if the oddball is aversive (Strange et al 2003;Hurlemann et al 2005). One hypothesis is that aversive emotion interferes with episodic encoding by activating an ensemble of neurochemical responses related to acute stress (de Kloet et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion-induced retrograde amnesia varies as a function of noradrenergic-glucocorticoid activity

Hurlemann

Matusch²,

Hawellek

et al. 2007

Psychopharmacology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rationale-Privileged episodic encoding of an aversive event often comes at a cost of neutral events flanking the aversive event, resulting in decreased episodic memory for these neutral events. This peri-emotional amnesia is amygdala-dependent and varies as a function of norepinephrine activity. However, less is known about the amnesiogenic potential of cortisol.Objective-We used a strategy of pharmacologically potentiating cortisol and norepinephrine activity to probe the putative neurochemical substrates of peri-emotional amnesia.Materials and methods-Fifty-four healthy individuals participated in a randomized doubleblind placebo-controlled study. Within the experimental context of an established peri-emotional amnesia paradigm, we tested the amnesiogenic potential of hydrocortisone (30 mg p.o.) in the presence or absence of the norepinephrine-reuptake inhibitor reboxetine (4 mg p.o.).Results-Under dual challenge conditions, we observed a linear dose-response relationship in the magnitude and duration of emotion-induced retrograde amnesia.Conclusions-Our results are consistent with a phenotypic expression of retrograde amnesia varying as a function of norepinephrine and cortisol coactivation during episodic encoding of aversive events. Our study demonstrates that the adverse cognitive and behavioral sequelae of aversive emotion can be experimentally modeled by a pharmacological manipulation of its putative neurochemical substrates.

show abstract

“Experimental Amnesia” Induced by Emotional Items

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

An emotion-induced retrograde amnesia in humans is amygdala- and β-adrenergic-dependent

An emotion-induced retrograde amnesia in humans is amygdala- and β-adrenergic-dependent

Noradrenergic Modulation of Emotion-Induced Forgetting and Remembering

Emotion-induced retrograde amnesia varies as a function of noradrenergic-glucocorticoid activity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About