Investigations of the cognitive and neural processes supporting memory for neutral and emotional words

The cognitive and neural processes underlying memory formation may differ depending on the vividness, or detail, of information encoded. In Chapter 1, a divided attention paradigm was used to examine memory formation when resources are (a) devoted primarily to encoding and (b) directed away from encoding, and toward a secondary task. In condition (b) the memories formed often lacked vividness. The formation of these less detailed memories recruited right inferior prefrontal cortex (PFC) and left parahippocampal gyrus. The left inferior PFC and left anterior hippocampus were additionally recruited in condition (a) when vivid memories could be formed. Investigations of memories' vividness have typically included only neutral information. The studies in Chapter 2 revealed that emotional information is vividly remembered more frequently than information lacking emotional import. This enhancement occurred for words with valence only (i.e., negative words that did not elicit physiological arousal) as well as for arousing ("taboo") words, but was stronger for the arousing words. In Chapter 3 a divided attention paradigm was employed to investigate the contributions of automatic and controlled processing to the recollective enhancement for the emotional words. Automatic processes (unaffected by task manipulation) drove the enhancement for arousing words, whereas controlled processes (disrupted by task manipulation) supported the enhancement for words with valence only. Thus, dissociable cognitive processes contributed to the enhancement for the two types of emotional words. In Chapter 4, fMRI was used to examine whether distinct encoding processes underlie enhanced memory for words with valence only versus words with arousal.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Kensinger, Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Ann), 1976-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Suzanne Corkin.

• Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29362

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29362