Cited by 382Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesDecision-Making and Behavioral EconomicsCognitive Science and Education Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 104 of the 105 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 44 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Affective Arousal as Information: How Affective Arousal Influences Judgments, Learning, and Memory

Open access
Storbeck, Justin, Clore, Gerald L.·2008·Social and Personality Psychology Compass

Abstract

The affect‐as‐information framework posits that affect is embodied information about value and importance. The valence dimension of affect provides evaluative information about stimulus objects, which plays a role in judgment and decision‐making. Affect can also provide evaluative information about one's own cognitions and response inclinations, information that guides thinking and reasoning. In particular, positive affect often promotes, and negative affect inhibits, accessible responses or dominant modes of thinking. Affect thus moderates many of the textbook phenomena in cognitive psychology. In the current review, we suggest additionally that the arousal dimension of affect amplifies reactions, leading to intensified evaluations, increased reliance on particular styles of learning, and enhanced long‐term memory for events. We conclude that whereas valenced affective cues serve as information about value, the arousal dimension provides information about urgency or importance.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This review extends the affect-as-information framework by proposing that affective arousal signals urgency or importance, thereby intensifying judgments, current processing styles, attention/perception, and long-term memory. Valence is argued to signal value—what to learn—while arousal signals importance—what to remember.

Key findings

  • Arousal intensifies evaluative judgments: positive objects seem more positive and negative objects more negative, and effects depend on arousal being attributed to the judgment target; irrelevant arousal can be misattributed, as in the Dutton and Aron bridge study and excitation-transfer research.
  • Arousal amplifies whatever processing strategy is currently active: high arousal in positive moods increased relational processing and false memories, while negative affect promoted item-specific processing; fear arousal improved visual sensitivity to perceptual contrasts and heightened threat detection.
  • Arousal marks events as important for memory: it enhances long-term memory via adrenergic and amygdala-based consolidation, with its greatest influence on memory for events about 2 days after encoding, and it can occur even when arousal is induced after learning.
  • Arousal may carry provisional negative value: high-arousing stimuli tend to be evaluated as negative and low-arousing stimuli as positive, and the amygdala is described as more responsive to arousal than to valence.

Methods

  • Narrative review, not a new empirical study; it synthesizes the affect-as-information framework and prior research on valence and arousal.
  • The review covers judgment, learning/processing, attention, perception, time perception, and memory, drawing on behavioral, physiological, neuroimaging, pharmacological, and clinical evidence.
  • The main analysis is conceptual integration: valence provides evaluative information, whereas arousal provides information about urgency or importance.

Limitations

  • Stated: there is no convincing evidence that arousal is a single, unitary entity; emotional intensity is multidimensional; the Yerkes-Dodson curvilinear relation is often unsupported; it is unclear whether arousal acts by increasing fear or by potentiating the fear-perception relationship; evidence is inconsistent on whether objects must be at least slightly arousing for general arousal to enhance memory; and one cited arousal-valence study did not adequately assess the valence of induced states.
  • Stated: intense arousal is sometimes associated with amnesia and forgetting, though the authors assume this reflects attentional disengagement during learning rather than arousal effects on forgetting.
  • Evident: as a narrative review, it does not systematically quantify effects or resolve inconsistent findings, and it relies on some unpublished, submitted, or forthcoming sources.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00138.x

Cites

104 of 104 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

66 Own interpretation · 38 Not checked yet · 10 No basis given

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Show all 66 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 42
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 11
48 of 48
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    There is adaptive value in having ready access to one's attitudes and in being able to read one's own and others' affective reactions.

    “These approaches generally assume that there is adaptive value in having ready access to one's attitudes (Fazio & Powell, 1997) and in being able to read one's own and others' affective reactions (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2004).”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Arousal can be treated as a psychological concept associated with emotional states, variously indexed by activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, or the endocrine system.

    “Consistent with Russell and Barrett (1999), we treat arousal as a psychological concept associated with emotional states that is variously indexed by activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, or the endocrine system.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    When asking oneself, 'How strongly do I feel about the car?' feelings of positive value may be intensified by both relevant and irrelevant sources of arousal.

    “We assume, then, that when asking oneself, ‘How strongly do I feel about the car?’ feelings of positive value may be intensified by both relevant and irrelevant sources of arousal.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Any source of arousal can modulate judgment, thoughts, and memory, as long as it is implicitly attributed to or associated with an emotional reaction toward the object of that judgment, thought, or memory.

    “A critical feature of our model is that any source of arousal can modulate judgment, thoughts, and memory, as long as it is implicitly attributed to or associated with an emotional reaction toward the object of that judgment, thought, or memory.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The pattern of reduced memory for relevant, anxiety-arousing material reflects attentional disengagement during learning, rather than arousal effects on forgetting.

    “However, we assume that this pattern reflects attentional disengagement during learning, rather than arousal effects on forgetting.”
5 of 5

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Citations

Cites

Show all 105 references

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Baumeister R. F., 2006, Hearts and Minds: Affective Influences on Social Cognition and Behaviour
  2. Frijda N., 1992, Emotion: Review of Personality and Social Psychology
  3. Loftus E., 1979, Eyewitness Testimony
  4. Packard M. G., 1995, Learning Development and Response to Brain Insults

Cited by

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Metadata

Authors
Storbeck, J., & Clore, G. L.
Affiliations
University of Virginia (US)
Venue
Social and Personality Psychology Compass
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2008-09
Volume
2
Issue
5
Pages
1824-1843
ISSN
1751-9004 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2171225607
Cited by
382
References
105
Citations by year
2026: 35 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 3
FWCI
2.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Social and Personality Psychology Compass (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH050074)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
Keywords
emotional arousal, valence, positive affect, negative affect, judgment and decision making, learning styles, event memory, cognitive control

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