Prior investigations have demonstrated that emotional information is often better remembered than neutral information, but they have not directly contrasted effects attributable to valence and those attributable to arousal. By using functional MRI and behavioral studies, we found that distinct cognitive and neural processes contribute to emotional memory enhancement for arousing information versus valenced, nonarousing information. The former depended on an amygdalar-hippocampal network, whereas the latter was supported by a prefrontal cortex-hippocampal network implicated in controlled encoding processes. A behavioral companion study, with a divided-attention paradigm, confirmed that memory enhancement for valenced, nonarousing words relied on controlled encoding processes: concurrent task performance reduced the enhancement effect. Enhancement for arousing words occurred automatically, even when encoding resources were diverted to the secondary task.W hy do we remember some experiences while forgetting others? Neuroimaging has provided a tool to probe this question. By comparing the neural activity during encoding of items that are later remembered versus those that are later forgotten (a ''subsequent memory'' analysis), one can examine the processes mediating successful encoding (i.e., that are carried out during encoding of words that will later be remembered; reviewed in ref. 1). Functional MRI studies have indicated that activation in prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus underlies successful encoding, such that greater activation in these regions increases the probability that information will be remembered.In most functional MRI studies examining memory formation, stimuli are chosen deliberately to preclude an emotional response. In daily life, however, much of the information we encounter holds emotional significance. Abundant evidence indicates that we often are more likely to remember this emotional information than we are to remember information lacking in emotional import (2, 3). The goal of the present study was to uncover the neural circuits mediating this enhanced memory for emotional information.The amygdala is an obvious site. The early studies of Kluver and Bucy (4) suggested that lesions to the amygdala can result in abnormalities in assigning emotional significance to stimuli. More recent studies have demonstrated a link between amygdalar function and explicit memory for emotional information: patients with amygdalar lesions do not show enhanced memory for emotional as compared with neutral stimuli (5-7), and neuroimaging studies have revealed a link between the amount of amygdalar activation at encoding and the likelihood of later retrieving emotional items (8)(9)(10)(11)(12).Although the evidence implicating the amygdala in emotional memory is strong, further specification of the neural processes is required because the amygdala clearly does not act in isolation. Similarly, the cognitive processes that contribute to the enhancement effect require delineation. Some...
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 effect of valence 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.
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