A Novel Demonstration of Enhanced Memory Associated with Emotional Arousal

The relationship between emotional arousal and long-term memory is addressed in two experiments in which subjects viewed either a relatively emotionally neutral short story (presented as a brief slide show) or a closely matched but more emotionally arousing story and were tested for retention of the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inConsciousness and cognition Vol. 4; no. 4; pp. 410 - 421
Main Authors Cahill, Larry, McGaugh, James L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.12.1995
Elsevier
Subjects
Adult
Arousal
Cognition
Emotions
Epistemology. Philosophy of science. Theory of knowledge
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Mental Recall
Philosophy
Psychological Tests
Reference Values
Neuter
Narration
Recollection
Experimentation
Memory;Remembering
Emotion
History
Recognition
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The relationship between emotional arousal and long-term memory is addressed in two experiments in which subjects viewed either a relatively emotionally neutral short story (presented as a brief slide show) or a closely matched but more emotionally arousing story and were tested for retention of the story 2 weeks later. Experiment 1 provides essential replication of the results of Heuer and Reisberg (1990) and illustrates the common interpretive problem posed by the use of different stimuli (slides) in the neutral versus emotional stories. In Experiment 2, identical slides (and sequence) were used in both the neutral and arousal stores. Two different stories were created by varying the narration that accompanied each slide. In both experiments, subjects who viewed the arousal story both experienced a greater emotional reaction to the story than did the subjects who viewed the neutral story, and subsequently exhibited enhanced memory for the story. Subjects in Experiment 2 who viewed the arousal story also recalled more slides than did the subjects who viewed the neutral story. This effect was greatest for story phase 2, the phase in which the emotional slide narration occurred. Because this enhanced retention of the story slides cannot be explained by any differences in the slides themselves, the results provide new evidence to support the contention that emotional arousal influences long-term memory in normal human subjects.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1053-8100
1090-2376
DOI:10.1006/ccog.1995.1048