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Papers by Kelly Bennion

Research paper thumbnail of The configural-similarity hypothesis of deja vu

Research paper thumbnail of The Configuration Hypothesis of Familiarity and Deja Vu

Research paper thumbnail of Selective effects of sleep on emotional memory: What mechanisms are responsible?

Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Eye tracking, cortisol, and a sleep vs. wake consolidation delay: combining methods to uncover an interactive effect of sleep and cortisol on memory

Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, 2014

Although rises in cortisol can benefit memory consolidation, as can sleep soon after encoding, th... more Although rises in cortisol can benefit memory consolidation, as can sleep soon after encoding, there is currently a paucity of literature as to how these two factors may interact to influence consolidation. Here we present a protocol to examine the interactive influence of cortisol and sleep on memory consolidation, by combining three methods: eye tracking, salivary cortisol analysis, and behavioral memory testing across sleep and wake delays. To assess resting cortisol levels, participants gave a saliva sample before viewing negative and neutral objects within scenes. To measure overt attention, participants' eye gaze was tracked during encoding. To manipulate whether sleep occurred during the consolidation window, participants either encoded scenes in the evening, slept overnight, and took a recognition test the next morning, or encoded scenes in the morning and remained awake during a comparably long retention interval. Additional control groups were tested after a 20 min del...

Research paper thumbnail of A Hypervigilance Questionnaire: Psychometric Findings and Group Differences

Research paper thumbnail of The impact of emotion on item and associative recognition

Research paper thumbnail of Contributors to Hypervigilance in a Military and Civilian Sample

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2013

Hypervigilance toward ambiguous or threatening stimuli is a prominent feature in many trauma surv... more Hypervigilance toward ambiguous or threatening stimuli is a prominent feature in many trauma survivors including active and returning soldiers. This study set out to investigate the factors that contribute to hypervigilance in a mixed sample. One hundred forty-five individuals, 50 of whom were war zone veterans, filled out a series of questionnaires including the Hypervigilance Questionnaire (HVQ; Kimble, Fleming, & Bennion, 2009). Other participants included military cadets, college undergraduates, and a traumatized community sample. In this sample, a history of military deployment and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms independently predicted hypervigilance. The findings suggest that deployment to a war zone, in and of itself, can lead to hypervigilant behavior. Therefore, characterizing hypervigilance as pathological in a veteran sample must be done so with caution.

Research paper thumbnail of Sleep and Cortisol Interact to Support Memory Consolidation

Cerebral Cortex, 2013

Separate lines of research have demonstrated that rises in cortisol can benefit memory consolidat... more Separate lines of research have demonstrated that rises in cortisol can benefit memory consolidation, as can the occurrence of sleep soon after encoding. For the first time, we demonstrate that prelearning cortisol interacts with sleep to benefit memory consolidation, particularly for negative arousing items. Resting cortisol levels during encoding were positively correlated with subsequent memory, but only following a period of sleep. There was no such relation following a period of wakefulness. Using eye tracking, we further reveal that for negative stimuli, this facilitative effect may arise because cortisol strengthens the relationship between looking time at encoding and subsequent memory. We suggest that elevated cortisol may "tag" attended information as important to remember at the time of encoding, thus enabling sleep-based processes to optimally consolidate salient information in a selective manner. Neuroimaging data suggest that this optimized consolidation leads to a refinement of the neural processes recruited for successful retrieval of negative stimuli, with the retrieval of items attended in the presence of elevated cortisol and consolidated over a night of sleep associated with activity in the amygdala and vmPFC.

Research paper thumbnail of Oversimplification in the Study of Emotional Memory

This Short Review critically evaluates three hypotheses about the effects of emotion on memory: F... more This Short Review critically evaluates three hypotheses about the effects of emotion on memory: First, emotion usually enhances memory. Second, when emotion does not enhance memory, this can be understood by the magnitude of physiological arousal elicited, with arousal benefiting memory to a point but then having a detrimental influence. Third, when emotion facilitates the processing of information, this also facilitates the retention of that same information. For each of these hypotheses, we summarize the evidence consistent with it, present counter-evidence suggesting boundary conditions for the effect, and discuss the implications for future research.

Research paper thumbnail of The configural-similarity hypothesis of deja vu

Research paper thumbnail of The Configuration Hypothesis of Familiarity and Deja Vu

Research paper thumbnail of Selective effects of sleep on emotional memory: What mechanisms are responsible?

Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Eye tracking, cortisol, and a sleep vs. wake consolidation delay: combining methods to uncover an interactive effect of sleep and cortisol on memory

Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, 2014

Although rises in cortisol can benefit memory consolidation, as can sleep soon after encoding, th... more Although rises in cortisol can benefit memory consolidation, as can sleep soon after encoding, there is currently a paucity of literature as to how these two factors may interact to influence consolidation. Here we present a protocol to examine the interactive influence of cortisol and sleep on memory consolidation, by combining three methods: eye tracking, salivary cortisol analysis, and behavioral memory testing across sleep and wake delays. To assess resting cortisol levels, participants gave a saliva sample before viewing negative and neutral objects within scenes. To measure overt attention, participants' eye gaze was tracked during encoding. To manipulate whether sleep occurred during the consolidation window, participants either encoded scenes in the evening, slept overnight, and took a recognition test the next morning, or encoded scenes in the morning and remained awake during a comparably long retention interval. Additional control groups were tested after a 20 min del...

Research paper thumbnail of A Hypervigilance Questionnaire: Psychometric Findings and Group Differences

Research paper thumbnail of The impact of emotion on item and associative recognition

Research paper thumbnail of Contributors to Hypervigilance in a Military and Civilian Sample

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2013

Hypervigilance toward ambiguous or threatening stimuli is a prominent feature in many trauma surv... more Hypervigilance toward ambiguous or threatening stimuli is a prominent feature in many trauma survivors including active and returning soldiers. This study set out to investigate the factors that contribute to hypervigilance in a mixed sample. One hundred forty-five individuals, 50 of whom were war zone veterans, filled out a series of questionnaires including the Hypervigilance Questionnaire (HVQ; Kimble, Fleming, & Bennion, 2009). Other participants included military cadets, college undergraduates, and a traumatized community sample. In this sample, a history of military deployment and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms independently predicted hypervigilance. The findings suggest that deployment to a war zone, in and of itself, can lead to hypervigilant behavior. Therefore, characterizing hypervigilance as pathological in a veteran sample must be done so with caution.

Research paper thumbnail of Sleep and Cortisol Interact to Support Memory Consolidation

Cerebral Cortex, 2013

Separate lines of research have demonstrated that rises in cortisol can benefit memory consolidat... more Separate lines of research have demonstrated that rises in cortisol can benefit memory consolidation, as can the occurrence of sleep soon after encoding. For the first time, we demonstrate that prelearning cortisol interacts with sleep to benefit memory consolidation, particularly for negative arousing items. Resting cortisol levels during encoding were positively correlated with subsequent memory, but only following a period of sleep. There was no such relation following a period of wakefulness. Using eye tracking, we further reveal that for negative stimuli, this facilitative effect may arise because cortisol strengthens the relationship between looking time at encoding and subsequent memory. We suggest that elevated cortisol may "tag" attended information as important to remember at the time of encoding, thus enabling sleep-based processes to optimally consolidate salient information in a selective manner. Neuroimaging data suggest that this optimized consolidation leads to a refinement of the neural processes recruited for successful retrieval of negative stimuli, with the retrieval of items attended in the presence of elevated cortisol and consolidated over a night of sleep associated with activity in the amygdala and vmPFC.

Research paper thumbnail of Oversimplification in the Study of Emotional Memory

This Short Review critically evaluates three hypotheses about the effects of emotion on memory: F... more This Short Review critically evaluates three hypotheses about the effects of emotion on memory: First, emotion usually enhances memory. Second, when emotion does not enhance memory, this can be understood by the magnitude of physiological arousal elicited, with arousal benefiting memory to a point but then having a detrimental influence. Third, when emotion facilitates the processing of information, this also facilitates the retention of that same information. For each of these hypotheses, we summarize the evidence consistent with it, present counter-evidence suggesting boundary conditions for the effect, and discuss the implications for future research.