Neural mechanisms underlying the effects of emotional arousal on memory

Turkileri, N. and Sakaki, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1993-5765 (2017) Neural mechanisms underlying the effects of emotional arousal on memory. In: Tsukiura, T. and Umeda, S. (eds.) Memory in a Social Context: Brain, Mind, and Society. Springer, pp. 43-55. ISBN 9784431565895 doi: 10.1007/978-4-431-56591-8_4

Abstract/Summary

Emotional events (e.g., seeing a snake while hiking) typically stay in the memory longer and in more detail than neutral ones (e.g., seeing a bird while hik-ing). This emotion-induced memory enhancement has been attributed to the amyg-dala’s modulation on other brain regions, such as the medial temporal lobe and visual cortices. In line with this amygdala modulation hypothesis, previous brain imaging research revealed enhanced amygdala activity when encoding and retriev-ing emotional stimuli compared with non-emotional stimuli. However, emotion does not always enhance memory. Indeed, researchers have long been aware that emotion sometimes enhances and sometimes impairs memory. Yet, the underlying mechanisms of the opposing effects of emotion are relatively unknown. For example, if the amygdala’s modulation on other brain regions is critical in the emotion- memory interaction, how does it result in the enhancement effects for some aspects, while impairing other aspects of memory? In this chapter, we argue an alternative possibility: that norepinephrine released by the locus coeruleus under arousal plays a critical role in the complex effects of emotion on memory.

Item Type	Book or Report Section
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/74580
Item Type	Book or Report Section
Refereed	No
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	Springer
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item