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Abstract:
Amygdala damage impairs the normal facilitation of memory by
emotion, but the relative contribution of the left versus right
amygdala in memory for verbal and visual emotional material has not
been investigated. We hypothesized that unilateral amygdala damage
would impair the normal facilitation of memory by emotion such that
1) emotional memory for VERBAL material is impaired by LEFT
amygdala damage and 2) emotional memory for VISUAL material is
impaired by RIGHT amygdala damage. 20 subjects with amygdala damage
(11 left, 9 right), 25 brain-damaged and 35 normal controls were
exposed to emotional and neutral pictures accompanied by auditory
verbal narratives. Memory for both pictures and narratives was
assessed with free recall and visual recognition tests 24 hours
later. Free recall results supported the first hypothesis: the left
amygdala group was specifically impaired on memory for emotional
narratives relative to memory for neutral narratives (ps < 0.05;
Mann-Whitney U tests). The second hypothesis was partly supported:
the right amygdala group was impaired in the visual recognition
test (ps < 0.01); however, this impairment was not specific to
emotional pictures. These findings illustrate a lateralized pattern
of the amygdalas contribution to emotional memory.
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