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Abstract:
It has been proposed that the emotional content of material
may perturb memory functioning. The following study wished to
evaluate the role of emotional valence on a source memory task. 60
normal subjects were presented with 30 emotionally-neutral images
and 60 corresponding sentences. Each image was associated with 2
sentences that evoked either a strong positive, or negative
emotional charge. During the study phase the images and a
corresponding sentence, either positive or negative, were randomly
presented. After each presentation, subjects were required to rate
the emotional valence of the stimuli and the sentence based on a
visual analogue scale. During the test phase, subjects were asked
to identify if the image had been seen or not. Recognised images
were rated according to a 'remember, 'know, and 'guess procedure.
Furthermore, subjects were asked to explicitly recall the evoked
emotion (positive or negative) that was associated with each image
presented during the study phase. For recognition of images, there
was a significantly better recognition of positive compared to
negative material for 'know responses, but not for 'remember
responses. There was a significantly better recall of the emotional
valence of positive compared to negative material for both 'know
and 'remember responses. Results seem to confirm, in part, the
hypothesis that negative material perturbs normal source memory
function.
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