Two routes to emotional memory: Distinct neural processes for valence and arousal

“However, prior studies showed that divided attention did not affect the emotional memory enhancement for arousing words or items (Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Mickley Steinmetz et al., 2014) and poor attentional states did not affect event segmentation effects on temporal memory (Jayakumar et al.,…”

“This suggests that, in addition to emotional encoding (e.g., Dolcos et al., 2004b; Kensinger and Corkin, 2004) and consolidation (Ritchey et al., 2008), AMY-HC interactions play a critical role in emotional retrieval through a synergistic mechanism in which emotion and recollection enhance each…”

“Memories for emotional or arousing events are remembered well and are often highly vivid even long after their occurrence (for reviews: Cahill and McGaugh, 1998; Christianson, 1992; Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; LaBar and Cabeza, 2006; Phelps, 2006).”

“…be related to the encoding of salient stimuli in memory than simulating prior experiences, as the amygdala also had increased activity during instances of fear perception and is known to have functional connectivity with the hippocampus during encoding of salient stimuli (Kensinger & Corkin 2004).”

“…imagining suggests that negatively valenced information is more likely to be encoded into episodic memory than more positive or neutral information because the arousal produced by negative information facilitates processing of that information (Anderson & Phelps, 2001; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004).”

“Highly arousing stimuli are shown to lead to strong amygdala activations at encoding that correlate with successful retrieval (e.g., Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Strange et al., 2004).”

“Although we can only speculate, one possibility is that memory for negative stimuli can rely on automatic processing (Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Weintraub-Brevda & Chua, 2018) and does not need as many available cognitive resources for enhanced EM.”

“…of psychological studies, emotional music affected the attention (Jiang et al., 2011; Jolij & Meurs, 2011) and arousal (Greene, Bahri, & Soto, 2010; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004) processes on visual stimulation, which indicated that the visual information was not passively input, but modulated by…”

“Emerging evidence from brain imaging [12,15,16,17,53,54,55,56] and ERP studies [57,58,59, 60,61] has shown the neural underpinnings of valence and arousal are disassociated in the human olfactory, gustatory, and memory systems.”

“…of domains (such as language, memory, and emotion) usually do not include dominance in their models (e.g., Ferré, Guasch, Moldovan, & Sánchez-Casas, 2012; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Kuperman, Estes, Brysbaert, & Warriner, 2014; Stadthagen-González, Imbault, Pérez Sánchez, & Brysbaert, 2017b).”

“Furthermore, there are some studies found an interaction effect of valence and arousal on memory encoding (Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; Mickley Steinmetz et al., 2010; Feng et al., 2012, 2014).”

“Similarly, emotionally evocative material is often conferred an automatic memory advantage in an effect termed the emotional enhancement of memory (e.g. Kensinger & Corkin, 2003, 2004; Anderson et al. 2006; Sommer et al. 2008).”

“Emotional information can be categorised into two dimensions: arousal, that is, how exciting or calming an experience is and valence, that is, whether an experience causes a positive or a negative impact [29].”

“It has been shown that arousing information is more likely to be attended (e.g. Talmi et al., 2007) and the encoding of such information is highly elaborative as compared to the encoding of non-arousing information (e.g. Schmidt & Saari, 2007; for overviews, see Kensinger, 2004; Talmi, 2013).”

“Some evidence suggests that memory for positive events may be more gist based and dependent on prefrontal rather than medial temporal regions [61–63].”

“…effect of emotion is linked to arousal , although valence -related differences (positive vs. negative) have also been identi fi ed (F. Dolcos & Cabeza, 2002; F. Dolcos et al., 2004a; Kensinger, 2004, 2009; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Kensinger & Schacter, 2006; Mickley & Kensinger, 2008).”

“…we did not explore how highly arousing, emotional information might have differential effects on memory bias from non-arousing, emotional information, especially because arousal and valence may influence memory processes through distinct mechanisms (Kensinger, 2004; Kensinger and Corkin, 2004).”

“…2018; McEw n et al., 2015; Redish, 2016), which plays a key role in learning and memory (Cohen & Eichenbaum, 1993; O’Keefe & Nadel, 1978; Scoville & Miln r, 1957; Squire, 2009) about emotional events and places (Girardeau et al., 2017; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; LeDoux, 1993; Phelps, 2004).”

“…memory for valent and arousing information is remembered better, with more detail and subjective feelings of richness (e.g., Hamann, 2001; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Kensinger, 2007, 2009; Levine & Pizarro, 2004; Mather & Sutherland, 2011, 2009; Mickley Steinmetz and Kensinger, 2009;…”

“Kensinger and Corkin (2004) even argue that valence and arousal in regard to emotional memory are processed by distinct neural processes such that arousal is dependent on an amygdala-hippocampal network whereas valence is supported by a prefrontal cortexhippocampal network.”

“In addition, as described in the next paragraphs, neuroimaging studies have localized specific brain network involved during encoding and retrieval of positive memories, distinct from brain circuits involved in arousal processing (e.g., Kensinger & Corkin, 2004).”

“Emotional information also tends to be remembered better than neutral information (Dolcos & Denkova, 2008; Hamann, 2001; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; LaBar & Cabeza, 2006; Mather & Knight, 2005).”

“Evidence suggests that the effects of emotional arousal on memory are larger and more consistently observed for aversive compared with positive emotional stimuli (de Quervain et al., 2007; Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; Rasch et al., 2009).”

“The second explanation involves findings demonstrating better recognition memory for emotionally arousing than for nonarousing information (e.g., Gavazzeni et al. 2012; Kensinger and Corkin 2004; Steinmetz et al. 2010).”

“…a central role in various emotional effects during memory processes (Canli, Zhao, Brewer, Gabrieli, & Cahill, 2000; Dolcos, Labar, & Cabeza, 2004a; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Kensinger & Schacter, 2006; Ritchey, Dolcos, & Cabeza, 2008), research on the elaborate modulation of emotional information…”

“Such roles include tutors, coaches, and actors (Payr, 2003); experts, motivators and mentors (Baylor & Kim, 2005); learning companions (Kim, Baylor & Shen, 2007); change agents (Kim & Baylor, 2008); and lifelong learning partners (Chou, Chan & Lin, 2003).”

“The control of arousal is advantageous considering that the effects of valence and arousal on memory function appear to be supported by different processing mechanisms (valence effects have been associated with more effortful semantic and autobiographical elaboration processes, whereas arousal effects have been relate…”

“Emotional information can be categorised into two dimensions: arousal, that is, how exciting or calming an experience is and valence, that is, whether an experience causes a positive or a negative impact [30].”

“While earlier behavioural and pharmacological studies on emotional memories used narratives as stimuli 1,2,31 , neuroimaging studies have primarily focused on the encoding and recall of static stimuli such as emotionally arousing images 19,20,24,25 or words 22,23 .”

“Moreover, Kensinger and Corkin (2004) observed strengthened connections between the hippocampus and amygdala during stimulus encoding of salient information.”

“To date, it is unclear whether emotional stimuli are attention grabbing due to emotional features per se (e.g., the level of emotional arousal; Kensinger and Corkin 2004; Steinmetz et al.”

“Previous studies have shown that dividing attention resources during encoding of emotional information is one factor that can quantitatively and qualitatively affect contents of memory in young adults (Clark-Foos and Marsh, 2008; Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; Kern et al., 2005), and older adults (Mather and Knight, 2005…”

“Studies on healthy young participants (Kensinger & Corkin, 2004) suggested that the availability of attention resources during encoding may contribute to the EEM observed after a short delay in two different ways, namely: automatic processing for arousing negative stimuli, and controlled processing…”

“4.1 Limbic Structures Several studies of visually presented emotional words have reported amygdala activations (Hamann & Mao, 2002; Herbert et al., 2009; Isenberg, et al., 1999; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Kensinger & Schacter, 2006; Landis, 2006; Naccache et al., 2005).”

“As explained in the Introduction, there is ample evidence that high-intensity emotional stimuli can have effects on memory that can be distinguished from low-intensity emotional stimuli [10,11,24,33,34].”

“…tasks, such as animate judgement (e.g., Kensinger & Schacter, 2006; Richardson, Strange, & Dolan, 2004), and abstract/concrete judgement (e.g., Kensinger & Corkin, 2004), and other studies use emotional emotionality rating tasks (e.g., Cahill et al., 1996; Canli, Zhao, Brewer, Gabrieli, &…”

“fMRI evidence indicates that activity in frontal-hippocampal networks, associated with controlled encoding processes, predicts memory for less arousing events (19).”

“…direct/bottom-up neurohormonal mechanisms that contribute to the memory-enhancing effect of emotion during encoding (e.g., Dolcos et al. 2004b; Kensinger and Corkin 2004; Kensinger and Schacter 2006a; Ritchey et al. 2008; Sergerie et al. 2006), consolidation (Ritchey et al. 2008), and…”

“Prior studies have specifically stressed the neural circuit connecting the DLPFC, instead of the VLPFC (e.g., Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; Sydnor et al., 2022), to the hippocampus in memory processing (Benoit and Anderson, 2012; Depue et al., 2007).”

“Subsequent memory for emotional targets is associated with co-activation in the amygdala and hippocampus (e.g., Dolcos, LaBar, & Cabeza, 2004, 2005; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004), with the strength of the co-activation correlated with the arousal of the stimuli (e.g., Sommer, Glascher, Moritz, &…”

“Relative to the automaticity of arousal-based effects, the processing of valence appears to rely on more top-down controlled processes (e.g., selfgenerated encoding processes) rooted in activation of the pre-frontal cortex (e.g., Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Kensinger & Schacter, 2006).”

“…is related to increased activation of the amygdalar-hippocampal network, emotional memory enhancement for nonarousing negative words is related to increased activation of the prefrontal cortex-hippocampal network—potentially due to increased elaboration or rehearsal (Kensinger & Corkin, 2004).”

“…processes in the hippocampus (for review, see LaBar & Cabeza, 2006), as well as interaction between these regions and frontally mediated controlled processes that increase attention, elaboration, and organizational strategies during encoding of emotional valence (e.g., Kensinger & Corkin, 2004).”

“…test the conjoint effect of valence and arousal is further supported by neuroimaging studies, which suggest that arousal and valence influence memory through two distinct neural mechanisms (Dolcos et al., 2004; Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; for a review see Murty et al., 2010; Dolcos et al., 2012).”

“The HA group also showed increased activation at the inferior parietal lobule and the cerebellar tonsil, which are known to be involved in emotional process (Kensinger and Corkin 2004; Turner et al. 2007), indicating increased emotional processing during food craving accompanying the decreased cognitive control.”

“An amygdala-hippocampus circuit reflects a relatively automatic effect of arousing elements on memory consolidation, whereas a prefrontal-hippocampus circuit is associated with a controlled encoding process and responds to the positive or negative valence of an element [12,13]; see also [14].”

“Moreover, negative events are usually retrieved on the basis of recollection, whereas positive and neutral events are recognized mainly on the basis of familiarity (Ochsner, 2000; Dolcos et al., 2004; Johansson et al., 2004; Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; Xu et al., 2015).”

“This latter finding together with the SAM ratings seems to contradict previous studies showing a positive relation between recall performance and stronger emotionality of the words (Kensinger and Corkin, 2004).”

“Emotional memory refers to the enhanced conscious retrieval of emotionally arousing relative to nonarousing episodes, mediated by increased catecholaminergic transmission in subcortical brain regions, including the amygdala, and depends on the arousal properties of the stimulus rather than valence per se.(34,35) Negat…”

“…of the modulated areas within MTL differs across studies, sometimes pointing to the hippocampal formation (Hamann et al., 1999; Dolcos et al., 2004; Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; Murty et al., 2009; St. Jacques et al., 2009) or to the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices in anterior MTL (Hamann et…”

“…memory-enhancing effect for emotional stimuli has been reported to involve all stages of memory processing (encoding: Dolcos, LaBar, & Cabeza, 2004; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Kensinger & Schacter, 2006; Sergerie, Lepage, & Armony, 2006; Ritchey, Dolcos, & Cabeza, 2008; consolidation: Ritchey et…”

“Compared to neutral words, negatively valenced words may increase arousal leading to a memory benefit (Bradley et al., 1992; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004).”

“This sample size was selected based on prior work on EEM and attention (Clark-Foos & Marsh, 2008; Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Kern et al., 2005).”

“Alternatively, the observed effects may be due to a valence-independent mechanism in which reactivation of hippocampal populations modulates general arousal levels (Fastenrath et al. 2014; Kensinger and Corkin 2004), resulting in increased social behavior in the female exposure test.”

“And yet, the emotional power of music is well-established (Koelsch, 2014), and musical memory may in fact benefit from such emotional enhancements, explaining why certain pieces of music frequently become unforgettable.”

“Anyway, positive and negative emotions can facilitate memory processes [108–110] thanks to neural mechanisms involving the amygdala and prefrontal cortices, which participate in information encoding [111].”