W10.2 (N): Emotion and memory consolidation Flashcards
(9 cards)
How did Wagner et al (2001) investigate emotional memory formation and how it is enhanced across sleep intervals?
Examined whether sleep preferentially enhances memory for emotional narratives- ppts memorised details of two small descriptions inc 94 content words
Neutral memory or emotional memory
Number of content words type-recalled was the memory measure- after the first half of the night or second half in morning
Difference between sleep and wake conditions only occur for emotional words and only for the second half of the night
Shows sleep plays a role in maintaining memory for words that are negative and this was apparent for the second half of the night (REM sleep)
Shows sleep plays a role in distinguishing emotional memories and neutral memories
How did Payne et al show that sleep enhances memory for emotional components of scenes?
Showed in tact cars compared to crashed cars (Neutral v emotional)
Background in both conditions was the same
Asked whether negative objects (bashed cars) had a stronger memory and whether by prioritising the main element would result in poorer memories of the background
Tested either whilst having been awake or asleep
30 minute wake interval to wake interval- not much difference, but once ppts have slept in the interval, there is a boost in info information (especially for emotional episodes where attention was focused). Focus on background elements was decreasing (forgetting) for negative scene.
For neutral scene- there was NO DIFFERENCE. Background change remained throughout and there was no difference in remembering the main elements with sleep.
Shows that threat and emotion has a bigger impact but this is at the expense of the details surrounding the scene.
so for a negative event, sleep is bad
key point: overnight trade off between emotional objects and background details
How did Dumay et al investigate word emotional attributes and consolidation?
Ppts had to learn which images the non word was connected to, that would provide meaning for this specific nonword
Learning phases to test the influence of time and hence formation of long term memories
Wanted to know whether they would connect the meaning of the images with words and whether this would acquire the meaning
Do you need consolidation for anything that is neutral to inherit emotional attributes?
Reaction time should increase and you should make more errors on these words if they have become emotional
What did Dumay et al find when investigating word emotional attributes and consolidation?
No effect of emotion when test occurs on the same day as learning but reaction times are longer when it had been one week and picture was associated with negativity- ppts were only tested with language domain
You need to sleep and consolidate info for an emotional stroop effect to take place
Time passed 6 hours was needed
What levels do protection against forgetting occur?
Synaptic and systems levels
What is slow wave sleep characterised by?
The hippocampus not encoding and by neural replay, which makes it promote synaptic and systems consolidation
What does synaptic consolidation in the hippocampus depend on?
The amount of retroactive interference, meaning that it may not be specific to sleep
What three key elements does sleep help, promote and integrate in relation to memory?
- helps recover info
- promotes gist extraction
- integrates new information with existing knowledge amongst other things
What is the term for recollecting memories that were previously accessible?
Reminiscence
