Jackson Margaret C, Linden David E J, Raymond Jane E
a School of Psychology , University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen , UK.
Cogn Emot. 2014;28(2):278-97. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2013.816655. Epub 2013 Jul 30.
Visual working memory (WM) for face identities is enhanced when faces express negative versus positive emotion. To determine the stage at which emotion exerts its influence on memory for person information, we isolated expression (angry/happy) to the encoding phase (Experiment 1; neutral test faces) or retrieval phase (Experiment 2; neutral study faces). WM was only enhanced by anger when expression was present at encoding, suggesting that retrieval mechanisms are not influenced by emotional expression. To examine whether emotional information is discarded on completion of encoding or sustained in WM, in Experiment 3 an emotional word categorisation task was inserted into the maintenance interval. Emotional congruence between word and face supported memory for angry but not for happy faces, suggesting that negative emotional information is preferentially sustained during WM maintenance. Our findings demonstrate that negative expressions exert sustained and beneficial effects on WM for faces that extend beyond encoding.
当面孔表达负面情绪而非正面情绪时，面孔身份的视觉工作记忆（WM）会得到增强。为了确定情绪对人物信息记忆产生影响的阶段，我们将表情（愤怒/高兴）分别限定在编码阶段（实验1；测试面孔为中性表情）或检索阶段（实验2；学习面孔为中性表情）。只有当编码阶段呈现表情时，愤怒才会增强工作记忆，这表明检索机制不受情绪表达的影响。为了检验情绪信息在编码完成后是被丢弃还是在工作记忆中持续存在，在实验3中，我们在维持间隔期间插入了一项情绪词汇分类任务。词汇与面孔之间的情绪一致性对愤怒面孔的记忆有帮助，但对高兴面孔的记忆没有帮助，这表明负面情绪信息在工作记忆维持期间会被优先保留。我们的研究结果表明，负面表情对面孔工作记忆产生持续且有益的影响，这种影响超出了编码阶段。
