Pan Rong, Wu Di, Hu Jingwen, Dou Wenjie, Gao Chuanji, Li Bao-Ming, Jia Xi
Institute of Brain Science and Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
Cogn Emot. 2025 Feb;39(1):196-209. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2415485. Epub 2024 Oct 21.
Episodic memory, with its emphasis on temporal-spatial contexts, has been a longstanding focus in memory research. While previous studies have investigated the role of emotion in temporal source memory using emotionally charged stimuli, such as emotional words or images, the influence of a separated emotional context remains less explored. This study sought to understand the impact of separate emotional contexts on temporal source memory. Participants were shown Chinese characters alongside separate emotional contexts (i.e. a neutral or negative picture) and then engaged in either a retrieval practice or a control condition. Finally, they were tested for recognition, temporal source memory, and emotional source memory for all the learned characters. Results revealed that a negative emotional context, unlike a neutral setting, enhanced the accuracy of temporal memory for adjacent neutral characters. However, this negative context reduced the accuracy of recalling the associated emotion. Importantly, the boost in temporal memory due to the emotional context remained even when participants were unsure or mistaken about the associated emotion. This study demonstrates the complex interplay between emotion and temporal memory, underscoring the enhancement effect of separated emotional contexts on temporal recall, irrespective of explicit emotional memory retrieval.
情景记忆强调时间 - 空间背景，长期以来一直是记忆研究的重点。虽然先前的研究使用充满情感的刺激物（如情感词汇或图像）来研究情感在时间源记忆中的作用，但单独的情感背景的影响仍较少被探索。本研究旨在了解单独的情感背景对时间源记忆的影响。向参与者展示与单独的情感背景（即中性或负面图片）一起的汉字，然后让他们进行检索练习或处于对照条件。最后，对他们进行所有所学汉字的识别、时间源记忆和情感源记忆测试。结果显示，与中性背景不同，负面情感背景提高了相邻中性汉字的时间记忆准确性。然而，这种负面背景降低了回忆相关情感的准确性。重要的是，即使参与者对相关情感不确定或有误，情感背景对时间记忆的促进作用仍然存在。本研究证明了情感与时间记忆之间复杂的相互作用，强调了单独的情感背景对时间回忆的增强作用，而与明确的情感记忆检索无关。
