Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, PR China.
MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Psychophysiology. 2023 Jan;60(1):e14152. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14152. Epub 2022 Jul 22.
Some aspects of our memory are enhanced by emotion, whereas others can be unaffected or even hindered. Previous studies reported impaired associative memory of emotional content, an effect termed associative "emotional interference". The current study used EEG and an associative recognition paradigm to investigate the cognitive and neural mechanisms associated with this effect. In two experiments, participants studied negative and neutral stimulus-pairs that were either semantically related or unrelated. In Experiment 1 emotions were relevant to the encoding task (valence judgment) whereas in Experiment 2 emotions were irrelevant (familiarity judgment). In a subsequent associative recognition test, EEG was recorded while participants discriminated between intact, rearranged, and new pairs. An associative emotional interference effect was observed in both experiments, but was attenuated for semantically related pairs in Experiment 1, where valence was relevant to the task. Moreover, a modulation of an early associative memory ERP component (300-550 ms) occurred for negative pairs when valence was task-relevant (Experiment 1), but for semantically related pairs when valence was irrelevant (Experiment 2). A later ERP component (550-800 ms) showed a more general pattern, and was observed in all experimental conditions. These results suggest that both valence and semantic relations can act as an organizing principle that promotes associative binding. Their ability to contribute to successful retrieval depends on specific task demands.
有些记忆方面会受到情绪的增强，而有些则不受影响甚至受到阻碍。先前的研究报告称，情绪内容的联想记忆受损，这种效应被称为联想“情绪干扰”。本研究使用 EEG 和联想识别范式来研究与这种效应相关的认知和神经机制。在两个实验中，参与者研究了语义相关或不相关的负性和中性刺激对。在实验 1 中，情绪与编码任务（效价判断）有关，而在实验 2 中，情绪与任务无关（熟悉度判断）。在随后的联想识别测试中，当参与者在完整、重新排列和新的对之间进行区分时，记录 EEG。在两个实验中都观察到了联想的情绪干扰效应，但在与任务相关的实验 1 中，语义相关的对的干扰效应减弱，而在与任务无关的实验 2 中，情绪的干扰效应减弱。当效价与任务相关时（实验 1），对负性刺激对会产生一个早期的联想记忆 ERP 成分（300-550ms）的调制，但当效价与任务无关时（实验 2），对语义相关的对会产生调制。一个较晚的 ERP 成分（550-800ms）显示出一种更普遍的模式，并且在所有实验条件下都可以观察到。这些结果表明，效价和语义关系都可以作为促进联想结合的组织原则。它们成功检索的能力取决于特定的任务需求。
