title: Working memory of emotional stimuli: Electrophysiological characterization.
abstract: Memorizing emotional stimuli in a preferential way seems to be one of the adaptive strategies brought on by evolution for supporting survival. However, there is a lack of electrophysiological evidence on this bias in working memory. The present study analyzed the influence of emotion on the updating component of working memory. Behavioral and electrophysiological indices were measured from a 3-back task using negative, neutral, and positive faces. Electrophysiological data evidenced an emotional influence on the working memory sensitive P3 component, which presented larger amplitudes for negative matching faces compared to neutral ones. This effect originated in the superior parietal cortex, previously reported to be involved in N-back tasks. Additionally, P3 results showed a correlation with reaction times, where higher amplitudes were associated with faster responses for negative matching faces. These findings indicate that electrophysiological measures seem to be very suitable indices of the emotional influence on working memory.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: dkessel.research@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kessel
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: García-Rubio
authors.affiliation: Fachbereich Psychologie, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany.
authors.forename: E Kirstin
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: González
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tapia
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: López-Martín
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Román
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Almudena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capilla
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Kenia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Colom
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carretié
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ERP; Emotion; Faces; N-back; P3; Working memory