Institute of Brain Science and Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Cogn Emot. 2023 Nov-Dec;37(7):1199-1212. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2023.2255334. Epub 2023 Sep 12.
Selective retrieval of task-relevant information often facilitates memory retention of that information. However, it is still unclear if selective retrieval of task-relevant information can alter memory for task-irrelevant information, and the role of emotional arousal in it. In two experiments, we used emotional and neutral faces as stimuli, and participants were asked to memorise the name (who is this person?) and location (where does he/she come from?) associated with each face in initial study. Then, half of the studied faces were presented as cues, and participants were asked to retrieve the corresponding names (Experiment 1) or locations (Experiment 2). Finally, all the faces were presented and participants were asked to retrieve both the corresponding names and locations. The results of the final test showed that retrieval practice not only enhanced memory of task-relevant information but also enhanced memory of task-irrelevant information. More importantly, negative emotion amplified the retrieval practice effect overall, with a larger retrieval-induced benefit for the negative than neutral condition. These findings demonstrated an emotional arousal amplification effect on retrieval-induced enhancement effects, suggesting that the advantage of the retrieved memory representations can be amplified by emotional arousal even without explicit goals in a task setting.
选择性地提取与任务相关的信息通常有助于保留对该信息的记忆。然而，目前尚不清楚选择性地提取与任务相关的信息是否可以改变对与任务不相关的信息的记忆，以及情绪唤醒在其中的作用。在两项实验中，我们使用了情绪和中性面孔作为刺激，要求参与者在初始学习阶段记住与每张面孔相关联的名字（这个人是谁？）和位置（他/她来自哪里？）。然后，一半的学习面孔作为线索呈现，要求参与者检索相应的名字（实验 1）或位置（实验 2）。最后，所有的面孔都呈现出来，要求参与者检索相应的名字和位置。最终测试的结果表明，检索练习不仅增强了与任务相关的信息的记忆，而且增强了与任务不相关的信息的记忆。更重要的是，负性情绪总体上放大了检索练习效应，与中性条件相比，负性条件下的检索诱发收益更大。这些发现表明，即使在任务设置中没有明确的目标，情绪唤醒也可以放大检索诱发的增强效应，表明被检索的记忆表现的优势可以通过情绪唤醒来放大。
