Shared neural substrates of emotionally enhanced perceptual and mnemonic vividness

• Published in: Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience Vol. 7; p. 40
• Main Authors: Todd, Rebecca M, Schmitz, Taylor W, Susskind, Josh, Anderson, Adam K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 2013; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: Amygdala; emotion; emotional salience; Emotions; fMRI; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Memory; Neuroscience; Noise; Studies; Visual Cortex; emotionally enhanced memory; emotional salience; fMRI; amygdala; emotion; memory; visual cortex; affect-biased attention
• ISSN: 1662-5153; 1662-5153
• DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00040

It is well-known that emotionally salient events are remembered more vividly than mundane ones. Our recent research has demonstrated that such memory vividness (Mviv) is due in part to the subjective experience of emotional events as more perceptually vivid, an effect we call emotionally enhanced vividness (EEV). The present study built on previously reported research in which fMRI data were collected while participants rated relative levels of visual noise overlaid on emotionally salient and neutral images. Ratings of greater EEV were associated with greater activation in the amygdala and visual cortex. In the present study, we measured BOLD activation that predicted recognition Mviv for these same images 1 week later. Results showed that, after controlling for differences between scenes in low-level objective features, hippocampus activation uniquely predicted subsequent Mviv. In contrast, amygdala and visual cortex regions that were sensitive to EEV were also modulated by subsequent ratings of Mviv. These findings suggest shared neural substrates for the influence of emotional salience on perceptual and mnemonic vividness, with amygdala and visual cortex activation at encoding contributing to the experience of both perception and subsequent memory.