Department of Psychology, Whitelands College, University of Roehampton, Holybourne Avenue, London, SW15 4JD, United Kingdom.
Brain Res. 2013 Mar 21;1501:21-31. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2013.01.019. Epub 2013 Jan 18.
Previous research has demonstrated that emotional material is more likely to be remembered than neutral material (Hamann, 2001). The present study employed the item-method of directed forgetting in order to examine whether emotionally negative words are not only easier to remember, but also harder to forget. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were additionally measured in order to investigate the processes of selective rehearsal and active inhibition in directed forgetting. The results demonstrated directed forgetting effects for both neutral and negative words, with a stronger effect for negative items. Late positive potentials (LPPs) for 'to-be-remembered' (TBR) relative to 'to-be-forgotten' (TBF) cues were enhanced when the cues followed negative in comparison to neutral words, indicating the greater selective rehearsal of TBR negative items. Frontal positivities to TBF relative to TBR cues were not modulated by word valence, indicating that inhibitory processes were unaffected by emotion. Taken together, the present research demonstrates for the first time that, not only are emotionally negative words prone to the same directed forgetting effects as neutral words, but that these effects are in fact enhanced for negative words and due to increased selective rehearsal of TBR negative items. The discrepancies between the present findings and those of previous studies are discussed.
先前的研究已经表明，与中性材料相比，情绪材料更容易被记住（Hamann，2001）。本研究采用定向遗忘的项目法，以检验情绪性负词不仅更容易记住，而且更难忘记。此外，还测量了事件相关电位（ERPs），以研究定向遗忘中的选择性复述和主动抑制过程。结果表明，中性词和负词都存在定向遗忘效应，负词的效应更强。与中性词相比，当负词后面跟着“要记住”（TBR）而不是“要忘记”（TBF）提示时，“要记住”（TBR）相对于“要忘记”（TBF）提示的晚期正电位（LPPs）增强，表明对 TBR 负词的选择性复述增强。与 TBR 提示相比，TBF 提示的额叶正波不受词的效价调节，表明抑制过程不受情绪影响。综上所述，本研究首次表明，情绪性负词不仅容易受到与中性词相同的定向遗忘效应的影响，而且实际上负词的效应更强，这是由于对 TBR 负词的选择性复述增加。本研究结果与以往研究的差异进行了讨论。
