Positive emotion enhances association-memory
The influence of emotion on association-memory is often attributed to arousal, but negative stimuli are typically used to test for these effects. While prior studies of negative emotion on association-memory have found impairments, theories suggest that positive emotion may have a distinct effect on...
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| Format: | Article |
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American Psychological Society
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51431/ |
| _version_ | 1848798494402281472 |
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| author | Madan, Christopher R. Scott, Sarah M.E. Kensinger, Elizabeth A. |
| author_facet | Madan, Christopher R. Scott, Sarah M.E. Kensinger, Elizabeth A. |
| author_sort | Madan, Christopher R. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The influence of emotion on association-memory is often attributed to arousal, but negative stimuli are typically used to test for these effects. While prior studies of negative emotion on association-memory have found impairments, theories suggest that positive emotion may have a distinct effect on memory, and may lead to enhanced association-memory. Here we tested participants’ memory for pairs of positive and neutral words using cued recall, supplemented with a mathematical modeling approach designed to disentangle item- versus association-memory effects that may otherwise confound cued-recall performance. We consistently found enhanced association-memory due to positive emotion. These results provide further evidence that positive information is processed differently than negative and that, when examining association formation, valence as well as arousal must be considered. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:20:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-51431 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:20:40Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Psychological Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-514312020-05-04T19:33:50Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51431/ Positive emotion enhances association-memory Madan, Christopher R. Scott, Sarah M.E. Kensinger, Elizabeth A. The influence of emotion on association-memory is often attributed to arousal, but negative stimuli are typically used to test for these effects. While prior studies of negative emotion on association-memory have found impairments, theories suggest that positive emotion may have a distinct effect on memory, and may lead to enhanced association-memory. Here we tested participants’ memory for pairs of positive and neutral words using cued recall, supplemented with a mathematical modeling approach designed to disentangle item- versus association-memory effects that may otherwise confound cued-recall performance. We consistently found enhanced association-memory due to positive emotion. These results provide further evidence that positive information is processed differently than negative and that, when examining association formation, valence as well as arousal must be considered. American Psychological Society 2018-08-01 Article PeerReviewed Madan, Christopher R., Scott, Sarah M.E. and Kensinger, Elizabeth A. (2018) Positive emotion enhances association-memory. Emotion . ISSN 1931-1516 valence; association-memory; emotion; arousal; positive emotion ; memory http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-40997-001 doi:10.1037/emo0000465 doi:10.1037/emo0000465 |
| spellingShingle | valence; association-memory; emotion; arousal; positive emotion ; memory Madan, Christopher R. Scott, Sarah M.E. Kensinger, Elizabeth A. Positive emotion enhances association-memory |
| title | Positive emotion enhances association-memory |
| title_full | Positive emotion enhances association-memory |
| title_fullStr | Positive emotion enhances association-memory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Positive emotion enhances association-memory |
| title_short | Positive emotion enhances association-memory |
| title_sort | positive emotion enhances association-memory |
| topic | valence; association-memory; emotion; arousal; positive emotion ; memory |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51431/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51431/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51431/ |