How emotion strengthens the recollective experience: a time-dependent hippocampal process.

ABSTRACT: Emotion significantly strengthens the subjective recollective experience even when objective accuracy of the memory is not improved. Here, we examine if this modulation is related to the effect of emotion on hippocampal-dependent memory consolidation. Two critical predictions follow from this hypothesis. First, since consolidation is assumed to take time, the enhancement in the recollective experience for emotional compared to neutral memories should become more apparent following a delay. Second, if the emotion advantage is critically dependent on the hippocampus, then the effects should be reduced in amnesic patients with hippocampal damage. To test these predictions we examined the recollective experience for emotional and neutral photos at two retention intervals (Experiment 1), and in

SUBMITTER: Sharot T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2031918 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature