Emotional Arousal Can Impair Feature Binding in Working Memory

Emotional Arousal Can Impair Feature Binding in Working Memory

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(03/02/2024, 17:07:18 )

Arousing pictures increase activation in higher-order visual areas and attract attention

“First, the suggestion that arousing pictures evoked greater attention than neutral pictures is supported by the finding that in both Experiments 2A and 2B there was more activity in higher-order visual areas during processing of emotional than neutral picture sets (Figures 4 and 5; see also Phan, Wager, Taylor, & Liberzon, 2002), and that the emotional pictures were remembered better later.” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 621)

Stimulus Arousal and activity in areas associated with visual processing

“Two subsequent functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments showed that relative to low-arousal trials, high- and medium-arousal trials resulted in greater activity in areas associated with visual processing (fusiform gyrus, middle temporal gyrus/middle occipital gyrus, lingual gyrus) and less activity in superior precentral gyrus and the precentral–superior temporal intersect. These findings suggest that arousal (and perhaps negative valence for depressed people) recruits attention to items thereby disrupting working memory processes that help bind features together.” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 614)

“As shown in Figures 4 and 5, emotional pictures resulted in greater activation than neutral pictures in regions associated with visual processing including the fusiform gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus. Because the number of face pictures did not differ in the high- and low-arousal picture sets, the different levels of fusiform activity between arousal conditions seen in Figure 4 cannot be attributed to differences in the number of face stimuli. The differences in activity in the visual processing regions shown in Figures 4 and 5 are consistent with greater attention to the high-arousal items, contributing to their higher likelihood of later being recalled (although we cannot rule out other factors that might be correlated with arousal level of the pictures, such as complexity).” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 620)

“The fMRI results of Experiments 2A and 2B are consistent with the idea that emotionally arousing pictures recruit more attention, reflected in activation in visual processing areas, at the expense of activity in other areas (the intersect of precentral and superior temporal gyrus, superior precentral gyrus) that likely contribute to feature maintenance and binding during working memory.” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 621)

“Thus, it seems that emotional content disrupted reflective processes by which the conjunction of item and location are bound in working memory (Mitchell et al., 2000)” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 621)

Less memorability of stimulus position

“A linear contrast showed that the more arousing the pictures were, the less likely people were to remember where they had occurred, F(1,19) = 10.16, MSE = .42, p < .01, hp 2 = .35 (see Fig- ure 2)” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 616)

“Omitting the low-arousal (neutral valence) items, a 2 (valence: negative, positive) 2 (arousal: high, me- dium) repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed only a main effect of arousal, F(1,19) = 9.32, MSE = .28, p < .01, hp 2 = .33. There was no main effect of valence and no interaction of valence and arousal (both F < 1). Thus, unlike arousal, valence did not influence source accuracy.” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 616)

“One possible explanation is that emotionally arousing pictures recruit attention to picture content, which disrupts processes that help bind the pictures with location information”

(Mather et al., 2006, p. 616)

Positive impact of stimulus arousal on attention

“This pattern is consistent with a positive impact of arousal on attention given to visual features of individual pictures and a negative impact of arousal on rehearsal processes important for binding individual pictures to their locations” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 620)

“emotional arousal disrupts encoding processes necessary for memorial feature binding”

“Such a pattern suggests that emotional arousal disrupts encoding processes necessary for memorial feature binding, at least in the short term.” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 621)

Impacts on Schizophrenia

“Finally, we note that our findings may also bear on the cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia show deficits in memory for the conjunction of neutral features even when they are equated with controls for memory of the features themselves (Burglen et al., 2004; Waters, Maybery, Badcock, & Michie, 2004; Rizzo et al., 1996).” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 623)

“In summary, emotion is important for directing attention, and emotional stimuli are likely to be remembered later. Our study demonstrates that this attention to emotional stimuli, reflected in activity in visual processing areas, sometimes has a cost.” (Mather et al., 2006, p. 623)