Brain dynamics associated with recollective experiences of emotional events.
In this study, we used high-density event-related potentials to investigate the brain dynamics underlying the recollective experience for emotional and neutral pictures. Using the remember/know procedure, 12 male participants introspectively indicated whether their recognition was based on conscious recollection (remembered) or familiarity (known). The results show a higher rate of remember responses for emotional relative to neutral pictures, despite an equivalent memory accuracy. In the event-related potentials, the subjective recollective experience for emotional pictures relative to neutral pictures was accompanied by an enhanced old/new effect (500-800 ms) over parietal scalp locations. The results provide electrocortical evidence for a contribution of the parietal old/new effect to the enhanced vividness of individuals' emotional memories and indicate that emotions enhance the subjective belief of recognizing memories.
Weymar
Mathias
M
Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Greifswald, Germany. mathias.weymar@uni-greifswald.de
Löw
Andreas
A
Schwabe
Lars
L
Hamm
Alfons O
AO
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult