Dissociable contributions of the amygdala to the immediate and delayed effects of emotional arousal on memory

Abstract

Emotional arousal enhances memory encoding and consolidation leading to better immediate and delayed memory. Although the central noradrenergic system and the amygdala play critical roles in both effects of emotional arousal, we have recently shown that these effects are at least partly independent of each other, suggesting distinct underlying neural mechanisms. Here we aim to dissociate the neural substrates of both effects in 70 female participants using an emotional memory paradigm to investigate how neural activity, as measured by fMRI, and a polymorphism in the α-noradrenoceptor vary for these effects. To also test whether the immediate and delayed effects of emotional arousal on memory are stable traits, we invited back participants who were a part of a large-scale behavioral memory study ∼3.5 yr ago. We replicated the low correlation of the immediate and delayed emotional enhancement of memory across participants ( = 0.16) and observed, moreover, that only the delayed effect was, to some degree, stable over time ( = 0.23). Bilateral amygdala activity, as well as its coupling with the visual cortex and the fusiform gyrus, was related to the preferential encoding of emotional stimuli, which is consistent with affect-biased attention. Moreover, the adrenoceptor genotype modulated the bilateral amygdala activity associated with this effect. The left amygdala and its coupling with the hippocampus was specifically associated with the more efficient consolidation of emotional stimuli, which is consistent with amygdalar modulation of hippocampal consolidation.

Abnormalities of the Amygdala in schizophrenia: a real world study

“…When comparing the data of SC before and after treatment, we observed varying degrees of recovery in the severity of illness and cognitive function, particularly in aspects such as immediate memory and delayed memory. Similar to previous studies, patients with SC commonly exhibit severe impairments in memory, which are associated with volumetric abnormalities in the amygdala[ 37 , 38 ]. And Tetsuya et al employed fMRI and discovered significant amygdala signal activation during memory processes[ 39 ].…”

Emotional arousal impairs association memory: roles of prefrontal cortex regions

“…Emotional arousal is well known to enhance memory for individual items ( Schümann and Sommer 2018 ), but can have impairing effects on associative memory, particularly when items cannot be easily unitized and interitem associations have to be formed ( Madan et al 2012 ; Murray and Kensinger 2013 ; Bisby and Burgess 2017 ). The neural substrates of the impairing effect of emotional arousal on associative memory have only begun to be explored ( Bisby et al 2016 ; Madan et al 2017 ).…”

Neural Mechanisms of Creative Problem Solving - From Representational Change to Memory Formation

“…The amygdala is highly functionally interconnected with the HC but also projects to all levels of the ventral stream (Freese & Amaral, 2005) enhancing sensory representations both via direct connections to sensory areas (Freese & Amaral, 2005;Gschwind et al, 2012); as well as via indirect pathways involving brainstem neuromodulatory systems and frontoparietal regions (Janak & Tye, 2015;Lim et al, 2009;Pourtois et al, 2013). In particular, stronger amygdala-fusiform coupling during successful encoding of emotional memories has been observed (Gieske & Sommer, 2023;Schümann & Sommer, 2018). Building on these findings, we hypothesize the sudden solution (RC) during insightful problem solving elicits heightened emotional arousal in the amygdala enhancing visual object representations in VOTC facilitating memory encoding and/or consolidation.…”