Though emotion conveys memory benefits, it does not enhance memory equally for all aspects of an experience, nor for all types of emotional events. In this review, I outline the behavioral evidence for arousal's focal enhancements of memory and describe the neural processes that may support those focal enhancements. I also present behavioral evidence to suggest that these focal enhancements occur more often for negative experiences than for positive ones. This result appears to arise because of valence-dependent effects on the (...) neural processes recruited during episodic encoding and retrieval, with negative affect associated with increased engagement of sensory processes, and positive affect leading to enhanced recruitment of conceptual processes. (shrink)

This chapter documents the progress that has been made in our understanding of how people remember emotional events, but also highlight substantial gaps in our knowledge. It demonstrates that, in a wide range of circumstances, emotion promotes memory for all event's “central” materials, but also emotion seems to have the opposite effect, undermining memory, in terms of details at an event's “periphery”. However, this latter effect may be produced not by emotion itself but by the presence of powerful “attention magnets” (...) found within some emotional events. The chapter then explores possible limits of this data pattern, with an eye on how different types and different strengths of emotion may influence memory differently. In general, emotion seems to have a positive effect on memory, increasing memory vividness, accuracy, completeness, and longevity. On the other hand, extremely intense emotions may work against memory, perhaps by interrupting the biological processes needed for memory consolidation. The available evidence directly challenges some long-held and often-quoted claims, including the Yerkes-Dodson law and the Easterbrook hypothesis of arousal and memory. (shrink)

The broaden‐and‐build theory (CitationFredrickson, 1998, Citation2001) hypothesises that positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought‐action repertoires. Two experiments with 104 college students tested these hypotheses. In each, participants viewed a film that elicited (a) amusement, (b) contentment, (c) neutrality, (d) anger, or (e) anxiety. Scope of attention was assessed using a global‐local visual processing task (Experiment 1) and thought‐action repertoires were assessed using a Twenty Statements Test (Experiment 2). Compared to a neutral state, positive emotions broadened the scope (...) of attention in Experiment 1 and thought‐action repertoires in Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, negative emotions, relative to a neutral state, narrowed thought‐action repertoires. Implications for promoting emotional well‐being and physical health are discussed. (shrink)

Understanding the interplay between memory and emotion is crucial for the work of researchers in many arenas--clinicians, psychologists interested in eyewitness ...