title: Effect of emotion on memory for words and their context.
abstract: Emotion influences various cognitive processes, such as memory. This beneficial or detrimental effect can be studied with verbal material, yet in this case a broad term of context has to be taken into account. The present work reviews recent literature and proposes that traditional differentiation between semantic and environmental context should be replaced with a novel conceptualization of hippocampus-dependent relational memory and item memory (related to the activations of cuneus and left amygdala). Additionally, instead of list-learning paradigms, words should be memorized in the context of sentences or stories for better control over their meaning. The recent evidence suggests that of particular importance for ecological validity in research paradigms is the presence of communicative and social context of verbal material related to such processes as theory of mind and brain activations in temporoparietal junction, posterior cingulate cortex, and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex. We propose that studying memory of verbal material within context gives a better understanding of enhancing and impairing effects of emotion as well as of the underlying brain mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Neurobiology Center, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riegel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Neurobiology Center, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wierzba
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw.|University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grabowska
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jednoróg
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Neurobiology Center, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw.
authors.forename: Artur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marchewka
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics
keywords: affective dimensions; basic emotions; communicative context; context; emotion; integrative associative memory; relational memory; sentences; social relevance; unitization; verbal episodic memory; words