Investigating the impact of emotions on memory

Abstract

It is generally well known that memory processes are impacted by emotions; however, much less is known about how emotion during the encoding of neutral information can influence the recall of this information. The current thesis examined how emotions influence individuals’ working memory and long-term memory performances in a free recall task. After each Emotional Induction through Music (positive, negative, and neutral), participants reported their emotions with the Self-Assessment Mannikin (SAM). The Skin Conductance Level (SCL) was also measured to give an objective insight into the arousal level of the participant’s emotions. Following the emotional induction and report, participants studied lists of neutral words and had to recall as many words as possible. It was expected to see an increase in the recall of words at the beginning of the list and the end in the positive condition, while in the negative condition, it was expected to see a decrease in the memory performance for the words at the beginning and the end of the list, compared to the two other conditions. Results show that in the neutral condition, participants demonstrated a higher recall of words from the end of the list compared to the negative emotion condition. However, there was no significant difference in SCL in the positive condition compared to the other conditions. SAM’s analyses revealed a higher valence in the positive condition compared to the neutral condition, and a higher arousal in the positive condition compared to the negative condition. Since the emotional induction did not work as expected, caution is advised in interpreting the results from the free recall task. This study highlights the importance of methodological considerations in emotional induction, given the intricate relationship between emotions and memory.