Emotion Affects Memory

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EFFECT OF EMOTION ON MEMORY How emotion affects memory. According to (Purves et al., 2001), Emotions pertain to subjective feelings and their associated physiological states and can therefore have dominant impact on memory. This means that emotion plays significant role in the four distinct but related types of memory processing i.e. encoding, consolidation, storage and retrieval. Encoding is the first critical step to creating a new memory that begins with perception through the senses. Many studies have shown that emotions affect the memory system by helping memories become more strongly encoded. This stronger encoding has been related to the interactions between the emotional and memory areas of the brain. Emotion engages the thalamus and…show more content…
the process of crystallising a memory trace after its acquisition by encoded information principally in the hippocampus. During this phase, memories are prone to disruption and modification, hence memory trace for a particular event can be strengthened for recollection or weakened i.e. forgotten or distorted. Emotion therefore, determines the result in that, a strong emotional stimuli evokes physiological response by which the amygdala can modulate activation of the hippocampus, leading to an enhancement of specific memory traces(Dolcos et al., 2004). Through this mechanism, emotionally relevant events benefit from a stronger consolidation, thereby increasing the likelihood of later recall of the event. “This enhanced consolidation may occur sometime after the encoded event, making a retrospective reinforcement of emotional memory content possible”(Brosch et al.,…show more content…
Studies suggest that release of ACh, an excitatory neurotransmitter, increases during memory encoding in the hippocampus. For instance, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) which initially affects memory formation, is related to insufficiency of acetylcholine. However, ACh release in the amygdala and hippocampus demonstrate competition and interaction in cholinergic activity as one affects the performance of the other(Miranda,
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