Wang Bo, Sun Bukuan
a Department of Psychology, School of Social Development , Central University of Finance and Economics , Beijing , China.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2015;68(11):2274-90. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2015.1013043. Epub 2015 Mar 11.
Two experiments investigated the time-limited effects of emotional arousal on consolidation of item and source memory. In Experiment 1, participants memorized words (items) and the corresponding speakers (sources) and then took an immediate free recall test. Then they watched a neutral, positive, or negative video 5, 35, or 50 min after learning, and 24 hours later they took surprise memory tests. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 except that (a) a reality monitoring task was used; (b) elicitation delays of 5, 30, and 45 min were used; and (c) delayed memory tests were given 60 min after learning. Both experiments showed that, regardless of elicitation delay, emotional arousal did not enhance item recall memory. Second, both experiments showed that negative arousal enhanced delayed item recognition memory only at the medium elicitation delay, but not in the shorter or longer delays. Positive arousal enhanced performance only in Experiment 1. Third, regardless of elicitation delay, emotional arousal had little effect on source memory. These findings have implications for theories of emotion and memory, suggesting that emotion effects are contingent upon the nature of the memory task and elicitation delay.
两项实验研究了情绪唤起对项目记忆和来源记忆巩固的限时效应。在实验1中，参与者记忆单词（项目）和相应的说话者（来源），然后立即进行自由回忆测试。然后他们在学习后5分钟、35分钟或50分钟观看一段中性、积极或消极的视频，24小时后进行突击记忆测试。实验2与实验1相似，不同之处在于：（a）使用了现实监控任务；（b）采用了5分钟、30分钟和45分钟的诱发延迟；（c）在学习后60分钟进行延迟记忆测试。两项实验均表明，无论诱发延迟如何，情绪唤起均未增强项目回忆记忆。其次，两项实验均表明，消极唤起仅在中等诱发延迟时增强延迟项目识别记忆，而在较短或较长延迟时则不然。积极唤起仅在实验1中提高了表现。第三，无论诱发延迟如何，情绪唤起对来源记忆影响不大。这些发现对情绪和记忆理论具有启示意义，表明情绪效应取决于记忆任务的性质和诱发延迟。
