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Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Memory-Enhancing Effect of Emotion
Published on: May 4, 2011
Emotional valence differentially affects encoding and retrieval of prospective memory in older adults
Nicola Ballhausen1, Peter G Rendell, Julie D Henry
1a Department of Psychology , University of Geneva , Geneva , Switzerland.
Abstract:
Studies manipulating emotional valence in prospective memory (PM) have so far revealed inconsistent results. In the present study, two experiments were conducted to systematically disentangle the effects of varying emotional valence in the encoding versus retrieval phase of PM in older adults. Results showed that, while cue valence at retrieval had no influence on PM performance, at encoding both positive and negative valence resulted in reduced PM performance. Findings suggest that emotional valence may have an influence on mnemonic processes at encoding rather than modifying cue detection in aging.
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