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Updated: Jun 29, 2026
07:21
The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content
Published on: June 29, 2016
Directed forgetting of emotional words
Michael T Minnema1, Barbara J Knowlton
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1563, USA. mminnema@ucla.edu
Emotion (Washington, D.C.)
|October 8, 2008
Summary
Negative emotions impair directed forgetting, making it harder to forget negative words when instructed. This memory effect is linked to mood and arousal, suggesting cognitive control is disrupted by negative emotional states.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Emotion Research
Background:
- Emotional material can impact memory performance due to processing limitations.
- Directed forgetting is a cognitive process used to control memory recall.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the emotional content of words affects directed forgetting.
- To determine if negative emotions disrupt cognitive control processes involved in directed forgetting.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Assessed recall of negative-valence words under directed forgetting cues, correlating with mood (PANAS).
- Experiment 2: Induced negative arousal via mild stressor to examine its effect on directed forgetting of negative words.
Main Results:
- Negative-valence words were recalled better when participants were told to forget them compared to remembering them.
- This directed forgetting effect was observed only when negative words followed the initial cue.
- Negative mood and induced negative arousal correlated with and disrupted directed forgetting of negative words.
Conclusions:
- Directed forgetting effectiveness is influenced by emotional content, particularly negative valence.
- Negative emotions and arousal disrupt cognitive control mechanisms essential for directed forgetting.
- Emotional states play a significant role in modulating memory control processes.
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