The Effect of Negative Emotional States on Short-term Memory Representations
GUO Li-jing1YE Chao-xiong1,2,3 LONG Fang-fang4LIU Xin-yang1,2 XIE Wei-zhen5
(1. Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610068; 2. Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla 40014, Finland; 3. Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere 33100, Finland; 4. Department of Psychology, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023;5.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health,Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA)
Abstract:Emotional states substantially influence what we remember at a given moment. Recent research has shown that negative emotion can modulate short-term memory(STM) representations, changing the quantity and quality of information that we can hold in mind over a short retention interval. For example, negative emotion induced by laboratory stimuli, such as affective pictures and sounds, can increase STM quality/precision but decrease the number of remembered STM items. These findings are consistent with the theoretical standpoint that negative emotion is a double-edged sword for cognition: while negative emotion can increase one’s alertness and optimize information processing under the focus of attention, they can also interfere with the control-related process, rendering it difficult to simultaneously remember multiple items in STM. However, these effects may be moderated by factors that can significantly influence our behaviors but are less examined in the previous studies, such as emotional induction procedures, STM task demands, and individual differences. Here, by reviewing recent theoretical and empirical studies in this area of research to discuss how negative emotion may modulate the scope of attention to influence STM representations.
郭利静,叶超雄,龙芳芳,刘昕旸,谢蔚臻. 负性情绪状态对短时记忆表征的影响[J]. 应用心理学, 2023, 29(4): 352-364.
GUO Li-jing, YE Chao-xiong, LONG Fang-fang, LIU Xin-yang, XIE Wei-zhen. The Effect of Negative Emotional States on Short-term Memory Representations. 应用心理学, 2023, 29(4): 352-364.