A novel demonstration of enhanced memory associated with emotional arousal
Abstract
The relationship between emotional arousal and long-term memory is addressed in two experiments in which subjects viewed either a relatively emotionally neutral short story (presented as a brief slide show) or a closely matched but more emotionally arousing story and were tested for retention of the story 2 weeks later. Experiment 1 provides an essential replication of the results of Heuer and Reisberg (1990) and illustrates the common interpretive problem posed by the use of different stimuli (slides) in the neutral versus emotional stories. In Experiment 2, identical slides (and sequence) were used in both the neutral and arousal stories. Two different stories were created by varying the narration that accompanied each slide. In both experiments, subjects who viewed the arousal story both experienced a greater emotional reaction to the story than did the subjects who viewed the neutral story, and subsequently exhibited enhanced memory for the story. Subjects in Experiment 2 who viewed the arousal story also recalled more slides than did the subjects who viewed the neutral story. This effect was greatest for story phase 2, the phase in which the emotional slide narration occurred. Because this enhanced retention of the story slides cannot be explained by any differences in the slides themselves, the results provide new evidence to support the contention that emotional arousal influences long-term memory in normal human subjects.
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Acute stress promotes memory consolidation, resulting in better memory for emotional material than neutral material.
“Acute stress also promotes memory consolidation, which ultimately results in better memory for emotional material than for neutral material (Cahill and McGaugh, 1995;Heuer and Reisberg, 1990).”
From Physiological feelings (2019) · cites this paper as Cahill and McGaugh, 1995
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- Authors
- Cahill, L., & McGaugh, J. L.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Venue
- Consciousness and Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1995-12
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 410-421
- ISSN
- 1053-8100 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2008553814
- Cited by
- 616
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 2.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Consciousness and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (AG00096)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH12526)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- emotional arousal, long-term memory, memory enhancement, emotional memory, narrative recall, storytelling, replication, stimulus presentation format
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Arousal, Cognition, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Psychological Tests, Mental Recall, Reference Values
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