Remembering the specific visual details of presented objects: Neuroimaging evidence for effects of emotion (original) (raw)

Retrieving accurate and distorted memories: Neuroimaging evidence for effects of emotion

NeuroImage, 2005

While limbic activity is known to be associated with successful encoding of emotional information, it is less clear whether it is related to successful retrieval. The present fMRI study assessed the effects of emotion on the neural processes engaged during retrieval of accurate compared to distorted memories. Prior to the scan, participants (16 young adults) viewed names of neutral (e.g., frog) and emotional (e.g., snake) objects and formed a mental image of the object named. They were shown photos of half of the objects. During the fMRI scan, participants saw object names and indicated whether or not they had seen the corresponding photo. Memory distortions (misattributions) occurred when participants incorrectly indicated whether or not a photo had been studied. Activity in some regions (e.g., L anterior hippocampus) was related to accurate retrieval (correct attribution-s>misattributions) for emotional and neutral items. However, activity in other regions corresponded with accurate retrieval specifically for emotional items (e.g., in R amygdala/periamygdaloid cortex and L orbitofrontal cortex) or for neutral items (e.g., in lateral inferior prefrontal cortex and R posterior hippocampus). Results indicate that emotional salience modulates the processes engaged during accurate retrieval and that activity in limbic regions corresponds with accurate memory assignment for emotional items. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate a link between limbic engagement at retrieval and accurate memory attribution. D

fMRI correlates of the episodic retrieval of emotional contexts

NeuroImage, 2004

Functional neuroimaging studies reveal differences in neural correlates of the retrieval of emotional and nonemotional memories. In the present experiment, encoding of emotionally neutral pictures in association with positively, neutrally or negatively valenced background contexts led to differential modulation of neural activity elicited in a subsequent recognition memory test for these pictures. Recognition of stimuli previously studied in emotional compared to neutral contexts elicited enhanced activity in structures previously implicated in episodic memory, including the parahippocampal cortex, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. In addition, there was engagement of structures linked more specifically to emotional processing, including the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. These emotion-related effects displayed both valence-independent and valence-specific components. We discuss the findings in terms of current models of emotional memory retrieval. D

Remembered or forgotten stimuli: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study on the effects of emotion

2020

Correspondence: Erol Ozcelik, Cankaya University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology, Ankara Turkey E-mail: ozcelik@cankaya.edu.tr Received: March 20, 2020; Revised: July 14, 2020; Accepted: September 28, 2020 ABSTRACT Objective: The first aim of this study is to examine why emotional events enhance memory for preceding stimuli. The second goal is to identify brain regions associated with remembering and forgetting by finding brain activation differences during encoding of remembered and forgotten stimuli. The third goal is to examine which brain areas are activated when studying emotional pictures compared to neutral ones. Method: In each trial, a picture of an object followed by an emotional or neutral picture from the Turkish culture were presented to 15 volunteers. The effect of the succeeding pictures on the remembering of preceding stimuli was examined. The participants studied the stimuli in the magnetic resonance scanner and, meanwhile, brain images were ...

A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Short-Term Source and Item Memory for Negative Pictures

…, 2006

We investigated the hypothesis that arousal recruits attention to item information, thereby disrupting working memory processes that help bind items to context. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared brain activity when participants remembered negative or neutral picture^location conjunctions (source memory) versus pictures only. Behaviorally, negative trials showed disruption of short-term source, but not picture, memory; long-term picture recognition memory was better for negative than for neutral pictures. Activity in areas involved in working memory and feature integration (precentral gyrus and its intersect with superior temporal gyrus) was attenuated on negative compared with neutral source trials relative to picture-only trials. Visual processing areas (middle occipital and lingual gyri) showed greater activity for negative than for neutral trials, especially on picture-only trials. NeuroReport 17:1543^1547

Emotional content and reality-monitoring ability: fMRI evidence for the influences of encoding processes

Neuropsychologia, 2005

Memory for emotional items can be less prone to some types of memory distortion, such as reality-monitoring errors, than memory for neutral items. The present fMRI study examined whether this enhanced reality-monitoring accuracy reflects engagement of distinct processes recruited during encoding of emotional information. Participants only imagined named objects (word-only trials) or imagined named objects and then also viewed photos of them (word-picture trials). Half of the items were emotional (e.g., snake, casket). Later, participants heard object names and indicated whether the corresponding photo had been shown. Reality-monitoring errors occurred when participants attributed an item from a word-only trial to a word-picture trial. Such misattribution errors occurred less frequently for emotional than neutral items. Activity in emotion-processing regions (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala) reduced the likelihood of later misattributions, likely due in part to interactions with regions that promote memory accuracy (e.g., the hippocampus). Distinct neural processes also increased the likelihood of reality-monitoring errors, depending on the emotional content of the items. Activity spanning the fusiform and parahippocampal gyri (likely reflecting mental imagery) increased the likelihood of reality-monitoring errors for neutral items, while activity in the anterior cingulate increased the likelihood of reality-monitoring errors for emotional items.

Dissociable Temporal Lobe Activations during Emotional Episodic Memory Retrieval

NeuroImage, 2000

The richness of human recollective experience is, in part, related to evocation of previously experienced emotions. An extensive functional neuroimaging literature has provided a description of brain regions involved in retrieving emotionally neutral episodic memories. Whether similar or distinct systems are involved in retrieving emotional memories is unresolved. This question motivated the present functional neuroimaging study, using 0-15 positron emission tomography (PET), where we compared patterns of brain activation associated with retrieving previously studied emotional and neutral pictorial material. By varying task requirements and item density we characterized two distinct neural response patterns during emotional memory retrieval. First, we identified an anterior temporal pole activation that reflected the psychological set associated with emotional memory retrieval. Second, we identified a left amygdala response sensitive to actual retrieval of emotional items. These data suggest distinct functional roles for temporal lobe regions during emotional memory retrieval involving context-related tonic anterior temporal pole activation and a phasic item-related amygdala response. We conclude that brain regions involved in episodic memory retrieval reflect not only physical attributes of stimulus material, for example, their verbal or visual qualities, but also their affective significance.

Incidental Memory Encoding Assessed with Signal Detection Theory and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 2015

In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that apply a "subsequent memory" approach, successful encoding is indicated by increased fMRI activity during the encoding phase for hits vs. misses, in areas underlying memory encoding such as the hippocampal formation. Signal-detection theory (SDT) can be used to analyze memoryrelated fMRI activity as a function of the participant's memory trace strength (d). The goal of the present study was to use SDT to examine the relationship between fMRI activity during incidental encoding and participants' recognition performance. To implement a new approach, post-experimental group assignment into High-or Low Performers (HP or LP) was based on 29 healthy participants' recognition performance, assessed with SDT. The analyses focused on the interaction between the factors group (HP vs. LP) and recognition performance (hits vs. misses). A whole-brain analysis revealed increased activation for HP vs. LP during incidental encoding for remembered vs. forgotten items (hits > misses) in the insula/temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and the fusiform gyrus (FFG). Parameter estimates in these regions exhibited a significant positive correlation with d. As these brain regions are highly relevant for salience detection (insula), stimulus-driven attention (TPJ), and content-specific processing of mnemonic stimuli (FFG), we suggest that HPs' elevated memory performance was associated with enhanced attentional and content-specific sensory processing during the encoding phase. We provide first correlative evidence that encoding-related activity in content-specific sensory areas and content-independent attention and salience detection areas influences memory performance in a task with incidental encoding of facial stimuli. Based on our findings, we discuss whether the aforementioned group differences in brain activity during incidental encoding might constitute the basis of general differences in memory performance between HP and LP.

Neural substrates of long-term item and source memory for emotional associates: An fMRI study

Neuropsychologia, 2020

Since Tulving's influential work on the distinction between familiarity and recollection-based retrieval, numerous studies have found evidence for differential contribution of these retrieval mechanisms on emotional episodic memory. Particularly, retrieval advantage for emotional, compared to neutral, information has been related to recollection-, but not familiarity-mediated processes. Neuroimaging studies suggest that this recollection-based retrieval for emotional information is related to stronger engagement of regions in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and prefrontal cortex (PFC). In the present study, we investigated neural correlates related to long-term memory of neutral information that has been associated with emotional and neutral contexts, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During encoding, different neutral objects integrated with emotional or neutral scenes were presented. One week later, the encoded objects were intermixed with new ones and participants had to indicate whether the objects were previously seen or not, using the Remember/Know procedure (item memory). Furthermore, memory for the correct scene background category was also tested (contextual source memory). First, replicating previous findings, we observed a preference for recollection-dependent memory retrieval versus familiarity-dependent memory retrieval for those neutral objects encoded in emotional compared to neutral contexts. Second, consistent with these behavioral effects, objects encoded with emotional, compared to neutral, scenes produced larger memory-related activity in recollection-sensitive brain regions, including PPC and PFC regions. Third, correctly retrieved emotional compared to neutral contextual information was associated with increased activity in these brain areas. Together, these results suggest that memory for information encoded in emotional contexts is remarkably robust over time and mediated by recollection-based processes.