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Recognition memory for emotional and neutral faces: an event-related potential study
Mikael Johansson1, Axel Mecklinger, Anne-Cécile Treese
1Experimental Neuropsychology Unit, Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. m.johansson@mx.uni-saarland.de
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|February 11, 2005
Summary
Negative emotional faces enhance recollection memory and influence recognition decisions. This suggests emotion facilitates memory recall and criterion setting, impacting how we remember events.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Affective Science
- Memory Research
Background:
- Investigating the role of emotion in memory retrieval processes.
- Examining event-related potential (ERP) correlates of recognition memory.
- Understanding how facial affect influences memory states of awareness.
Observation:
- Facial expression did not affect old-new discrimination accuracy.
- Negative faces showed enhanced recollection compared to positive and neutral faces.
- Emotional faces, particularly negative ones, modulated ERPs and response criteria.
Findings:
- Negative emotional faces are more likely to be recollected.
- Emotion influences recognition by altering response criteria, mediated by the prefrontal cortex.
- Event-related potentials (ERPs) reflect enhanced recollection for negative faces.
Implications:
- Emotional events, especially negative ones, may be preferentially recollected.
- Emotion's impact on recognition memory involves both recollection enhancement and criterion setting.
- Prefrontal cortex plays a key role in emotion-modulated recognition memory.