On the forgetting of word associations: Parkin et al. reconsidered

Valence modulates source memory for faces

“…Furthermore, these results are consistent with data showing that source memory is enhanced by valence and, especially, by negative valence (D'Argembeau & Van der Linden, 2004;Doerksen & Shimamura, 2001;Kensinger & Corkin, 2003;Kensinger et al, 2007;Mather & Nesmith, 2008;Smith et al, 2004). However, there are also a large number of studies showing that source memory is decreased by emotional or negatively valent material (Anderson & Shimamura, 2005;Cook et al, 2007;Mather et al, 2006;Rossmann, 1984). As was noted earlier, a crucial difference between the present study and most studies showing decreased source memory for emotional items may be that, here, we assessed source memory for valent source information, whereas most other studies have assessed ules, each of which has been selected because it helped to solve the problem of avoiding negative influences in one particular subject area.…”

“…However, despite the strong claims that valence generally enhances information processing (Baumeister et al, 2001), there are also a number of studies that suggest that source memory is not affected by emotional valence (Kensinger & Schacter, 2006) and can even be impaired for emotional or negatively valent material (Anderson & Shimamura, 2005;Cook, Hicks, & Marsh, 2007;Mather et al, 2006;Rossmann, 1984). For example, Cook and colleagues showed that source memory for the modality in which a word was presented (visual or auditory) was worse for negative than for neutral words.…”

Evidence of normal emotional responsiveness in alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome in the presence of profound memory impairment

“…This apparent discrepancy in findings for different kinds of measures suggests either insensitivity in behavioural measures, or a stimulus related difference in elicited responses, or a real independence between psychophysiological responses and other behaviours as indices of emotionality. Given both the lack of consensus about the validity of physiological measures for monitoring emotional response (Lang, Rice & Stemberg, 1972;Obrist, Light & Hastrup, 1981) and the reliable effects of emotional content on memory when behavioural measures are used (Rossman, 1984;Johnson et al, 1985), we lean toward the independence of psychophysiological and behavioural indices. Identification of deficits in physiological response in the presence of relatively normal behavioural indices of emotional response for Korsakoff patients may prove valuable in increasing our understanding of normal emotional functioning, just as delineation of the specific amnesia in Korsakoff's Syndrome has helped to increase understanding of memory.…”

“…Self-generated paired-associates were used to investigate recall of emotion-laden verbal material. This task has revealed decrements in recall of emotion-laden versus neutral words in normal subjects over a period of short delay (Levinger & Clark, 1961;Sinton, 1981;Parkin et al, 1982;Rossman, 1984). In the current study 16 "high emotion" and 16 "low emotion" words were combined and randomized with 32 equivalent words used in another study.…”

“…Four behavioural tests were used to study the emotion-memory interaction in this group. One, subject-generated paired-associates, has consistently yielded effects of stimulus emotionality on immediate recall (Levinger & Clark, 1961;Sinton, 1981;Parkin, Lewinson & Folkard, 1982;Rossman, 1984). Two others, recognition of novel face-statement pairs and liking ratings for these faces, modify and extend a task used by other researchers Qohnson et al, 1985) to identify emotional responsiveness in Korsakoff's amnesics.…”