Emotional arousal amplifies competitions across goal-relevant representation: a neurocomputational framework

Sakaki, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1993-5765, Ueno, T., Ponzio, A., Harley, C. W. and Mather, M. (2019) Emotional arousal amplifies competitions across goal-relevant representation: a neurocomputational framework. Cognition, 187. pp. 108-125. ISSN 0010-0277 doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.02.011

Abstract/Summary

Emotional arousal often facilitates memory for some aspects of an event while impairing memory for other aspects of the same event. Across three experiments, we found that emotional arousal amplifies competition among goal-relevant representations, such that arousal impairs memory for multiple goal-relevant representations while enhancing memory for solo goal-relevant information. We also present a computational model to explain the mechanisms by which emotional arousal can modulate memory in opposite ways via the local/synaptic-level noradrenergic system. The model is based on neurophysiological observations that norepinephrine (NE) released under emotional arousal is locally controlled by glutamate levels, resulting in different NE effects across regions, gating either long-term potentiation or long-term depression by activating different adrenergic receptors depending on NE concentration levels. This model successfully replicated behavioral findings from the three experiments. These findings suggest that the NE’s local effects, rather than broad effects, are key in determining the effects of emotion on memory.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/82424
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.cognition.2019.02.011
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience
Publisher	Elsevier
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