Investigation of the interaction between emotion and working memory load using spatiotemporal pattern similarity...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging
• Psychology

Background:

• Emotions modulate working memory (WM), but their precise effect (inhibition vs. facilitation) and interaction with cognitive load remain debated.
• Understanding the interplay between cognitive tasks, processing load, and emotional processing is crucial for a comprehensive model of cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how different emotional states (negative, neutral, positive) affect working memory performance under varying cognitive loads.
• To explore the neural mechanisms underlying the interaction between emotion and working memory load using electroencephalography (EEG).

Main Methods:

• Utilized a change detection paradigm with four levels of working memory load and emotion-inducing videos.
• Analyzed electroencephalography (EEG) data using event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) and spatiotemporal pattern similarity (STPS) analyses.

Main Results:

• Alpha and beta oscillations in the posterior brain region differentiated between working memory load sizes and emotions under moderate-to-high load during memory maintenance.
• Significant interaction between emotion and working memory load was observed, with negative emotion showing higher similarity to neutral emotion under high load.
• Both positive and negative emotions interfered with the ability to distinguish between working memory load sizes.

Conclusions:

• Negative emotions may facilitate working memory when cognitive load approaches capacity limits.
• Top-down attention modulation driven by negative emotion promotes the storage of relevant information during working memory maintenance.
• Findings clarify the complex relationship between emotional states and cognitive control under demanding conditions.