Emotional memory: Mechanisms of anticipation and attention Öffentlichkeit
Hermes, Anne Rene (2013)
Published
Abstract
Enhanced memory for emotional information is a widely studied phenomenon that pervades our lives and experiences. One mechanism that may enhance memory for emotional stimuli is the increased processing of and attention to emotionally salient information. Focusing attention on salient negative aspects of a stimulus has been related to subsequent memory performance, but this effect has not been widely studied in positive stimuli. The anticipation of emotion is another mechanism that may enhance memory for emotional stimuli. Research has shown that anticipatory neural activity predicts subsequent memory, but the effects of anticipation on memory-related encoding behaviors have not yet been investigated.
The current study used eye-tracking as a metric for attention
during encoding in order to investigate the contribution of
attention and anticipation to adults' memory for emotional images.
Eye movements were recorded during the encoding of negative,
positive, and neutral scenes. To manipulate emotion anticipation,
half of the participants were presented with a cue indicating the
emotional valence of the upcoming stimulus during encoding.
Patterns of eye movement and attention were related to subsequent
memory for the stimuli during a recognition task one week after
encoding. The current study demonstrated that memory for negative
and neutral scenes was related to the visual search of salient
details. These results suggest that sustained processing of central
details is an effective encoding mechanism for negative and neutral
but not positive stimuli. The anticipation of negative stimuli was
related to differences in the orienting of attention during
encoding. Inconsistent with hypotheses, anticipation-related
changes in encoding behavior were not related to memory. Future
research should investigate relations between emotion anticipation
and individual differences in affect and emotion regulation to
evaluate how emotion anticipation affects memory through encoding
processes such as attention.
Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................1
Attention as an Encoding Mechanism.......................................3
Effects of Attention on Emotional Memory................................4
Anticipatory Effects on Stimulus Processing and Memory.........7
Aims and Hypotheses.............................................................10Method.........................................................................................12
Participants............................................................................12 Materials................................................................................13 Procedure..............................................................................16 Data Reduction......................................................................19 Statistical Analysis.................................................................20Results.........................................................................................21
Valence and Arousal Ratings..................................................21
Visual Processing of Emotional Stimuli....................................22
Subsequent Memory..............................................................24 Encoding and Subsequent Memory........................................25 Summary................................................................................28Discussion...................................................................................29
Mechanisms for the Encoding of Emotional Stimuli..................30
Emotion Anticipation and Encoding Processes........................33
Limitations and Future Directions............................................34 Conclusions..............................................................................36References...................................................................................38
About this Honors Thesis
School | |
---|---|
Department | |
Degree | |
Submission | |
Language |
|
Research Field | |
Stichwort | |
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor | |
Committee Members |
Primary PDF
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
---|---|---|---|
|
Emotional memory: Mechanisms of anticipation and attention () | 2018-08-28 10:28:00 -0400 |
|
Supplemental Files
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
---|