title: Spreading activation in emotional memory networks and the cumulative effects of somatic markers.
abstract: The theory of spreading activation proposes that the activation of a semantic memory node may spread along bidirectional associative links to other related nodes. Although this theory was originally proposed to explain semantic memory networks, a similar process may be said to exist with episodic or emotional memory networks. The Somatic Marker hypothesis proposes that remembering an emotional memory activates the somatic sensations associated with the memory. An integration of these two models suggests that as spreading activation in emotional memory networks increases, a greater number of associated somatic markers would become activated. This process would then result in greater changes in physiological functioning. We sought to investigate this possibility by having subjects recall words associated with sad and happy memories, in addition to a neutral condition. The average ages of the memories and the number of word memories recalled were then correlated with measures of heart rate and skin conductance. The results indicated significant positive correlations between the number of happy word memories and heart rate (r = .384, p = .022) and between the average ages of the sad memories and skin conductance (r = .556, p = .001). Unexpectedly, a significant negative relationship was found between the number of happy word memories and skin conductance (r = -.373, p = .025). The results provide partial support for our hypothesis, indicating that increasing spreading activation in emotional memory networks activates an increasing number of somatic markers and this is then reflected in greater physiological activity at the time of recalling the memories.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN, USA. paul.foster@mtsu.edu.|University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. paul.foster@mtsu.edu.
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hubbard
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Ransom W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poole
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pridmore
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, USA.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Harrison
keywords: Emotion; Emotional memory; Episodic memory; Heart rate; Psychophysiology; Semantic memory; Skin conductance; Somatic markers; Spreading activation