Emotion enhances remembrance of neutral events past

doi:10.1073/pnas.0506308103

Emotion enhances remembrance of neutral events past

^*Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3G3; ^†Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, ON, Canada M6A 2E1; and ^§Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

Edited by Edward E. Smith, Columbia University, New York, NY, and approved December 5, 2005 (received for review July 26, 2005)

Abstract

Emotional events are bestowed with special prominence in memory. This may reflect greater attention oriented to these events during encoding, and/or enhancement of memory consolidation after emotional events have passed. Here we show invoked emotional arousal results in a retrograde enhancement of long-term memory, determining what will later be remembered or forgotten. Subjects saw pictures of neutral faces and houses followed by emotionally arousing scenes at varying intervals. Self-reported emotional arousal responses predicted a retrograde enhancement of memory for preceding neutral events in a 1-week delayed recognition memory test. At longer picture-scene intervals, no enhancement was found, implicating a critical window in which emotional arousal must occur for retrograde memory enhancement. Postencoding manipulation of emotional arousal specifically enhanced conscious recollection rather than familiarity-based discrimination. An additional study revealed no retrograde enhancement for pictures preceding highly memorable, but nonarousing, distinctive scenes. These findings indicate an important role for emotional arousal in the postencoding enhancement of episodic memory consolidation.

Footnotes

↵ ‡ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: anderson{at}psych.utoronto.ca.
Author contributions: A.K.A. and P.E.W. designed research; P.E.W. performed research; A.K.A. and P.E.W. analyzed data; and A.K.A., P.E.W., and J.D.E.G. wrote the paper.
Conflict of interest statement: No conflicts declared.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
Abbreviations: RME, retrograde memory enhancement; ISI, interstimulus interval.