The Power of Emotion

Amber Badgerow

October 9, 2011

PSY 213

Olmsted

The Power of Emotion

Question:

Memories involving strong emotions seem to leave a more intense impression than those without. How does emotion enhance memory? Why do negative emotions have more of an effect, as can be seen in trauma?

Prediction:

Emotions enhance memory because the formation of memories involves the amygdala, which is also why negative emotions (fear) would have more of an effect.

Article 1: “Interaction between the Amygdala and the Medial Temporal Lobe Memory System Predicts Better Memory for Emotional Events” http://www.mind.duke.edu/files/sites/labar

/pub/2441802955.pdf

This article by Dr. Florin Dolcos, Dr. Kevin S. Labar, and Dr. Roberto Cabeza was found in the Duke University archives at the website www.duke.edu. It discusses the findings of their study on emotions effect on memory. The experiment involved testing memory by showing participants emotional pictures and neutral pictures while recording brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and then analyzing the recordings based on the recollection of or the failure to remember the pictures in a following test. They measured an emotional and a neutral difference resulting from memory (Dm), which is higher activity for recollected memories compared to forgotten memories and is considered to indicate the successful encoding of memories. As they had hypothesized, emotional pictures had a greater average remembrance (±SD) than neutral ones and the emotional Dm was higher than the neutral Dm in the amygdala and in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system. Also, emotional Dm caused more association between the amygdala and the MTL memory system than did neutral Dm. These results indicate that the amygdala improves the MTL memory system function during emotional events, which causes better recollection of such events.

Article 2: “Negative Emotion Enhances Memory Accuracy: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Evidence” http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/fall07/marsolekc/psy4960/Kensinger%2707.pdf

Dr. Elizabeth A. Kensinger wrote the article “Negative Emotion Enhances Memory Accuracy: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Evidence” to present evidence supporting the hypothesis that memory is improved by negative emotion. In a study by her and her colleagues in 2006, subjects recalled the visual details of negative objects better than those of neutral objects, which indicated that emotions enhance memory details (such as specific color, location, etc.). Kensinger then noticed in another study that antagonistic events seemed to improve the accuracy of a memory better than a pleasurable event as subjects were capable of recognizing “same” from “similar” negative objects, but were equally unsuccessful at identifying “same” from “similar” positive or neutral objects. Other studies concerning the subject also showed negative emotion elicited less mistakes in reproduced memories than positive emotion. Such findings are concurrent with the evidence that people are systematic and detailed in processing information while in a negative mood, but depend on restricted or diagrammatic information while in a positive mood and thus disregard details. fMRI scans showed activity in the amygdala and hippocampal regions when a subject was processing negative objects. This supports the proposition that the amygdala performs a critical role in deciding if a stimulus is harmful. Therefore, fearful experiences would produce more accurate memories.

Source Validity:

Both sources were reliable and qualified. However, the study done by Dolcos, Lebar, and Cabeza consisted of only sixteen subjects (all female since males have been shown to be less reactive to emotional stimuli and less likely to disclose whether or not they had strong emotional experiences). A larger participant group would be ideal for validity. Also, the aforementioned paper was not the most current research (seven years old), but recently released studies have not proven the conclusions false. The article by Dr. Kensinger, found via Google Scholar, was based on previous work and did not list subject size.

Reflection on Hypothesis:

The results of my research support my hypothesis of the amygdala being involved with memory enhancement during emotional events. More research has yet to be done to clarify exactly how or why negative emotional events improve recollection of memories, but proposals support my hypothesis that the amygdala’s involvement in the encoding of emotional memories is why the brain is more likely to store negative details that could be useful to survival.