TS-Si
is dedicated to the acceptance, medical treatment, and legal protection of individuals correcting the misalignment of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition into society.
is dedicated to the acceptance, medical treatment, and legal protection of individuals correcting the misalignment of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition into society.
Women's History Month
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) flew 60 million miles for America during World War II. Thirty-eight of the women were killed on duty.
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) flew 60 million miles for America during World War II. Thirty-eight of the women were killed on duty.
Join The Flow!
TS-Si supports
open access to
publicly funded research
| Remembering Bad Times Better Than The Good |
 |
 |
| SciMed - Soc & Psych | |||
| TS-Si News Service | |||
| Thursday, 30 August 2007 19:00 | |||
|
When emotion is likely to reduce inconsistencies of memory
Boston, MA, USA. Researchers are beginning to understand why we remember events that carry negative emotional weight. Do you remember exactly where you were when you learned of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks? For most people, the answer to this question is probably yes.
Researchers have extensively examined whether emotional memories contain more accurate detail than nonemotional memories. The question hs been whether individuals believe they accurately remember emotional experiences.
 Boston College psychologist, Elizabeth Kensinger, and her colleagues explain when emotion is likely to reduce our memory inconsistencies. Her research in Current Directions in Psychological Science shows that whether an event is pleasurable or aversive seems to be a critical to determining the accuracy with which the event is remembered. Negative events are remembered in greater detail than positive ones.
Kensinger reviews evidence that negative emotion enhances not only the subjective vividness of a memory but also the likelihood of remembering some (but not all) event details. For example, after seeing a man on a street holding a gun, people remember the gun vividly, but they forget the details of the street.
Neuroimaging studies report increased cellular activity in emotion-processing regions when experiencing a negative event. The evidence from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) points to the emotion-processing regions of the brain, particularly the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex.
The more activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala, the more likely an individual is to remember details intrinsically linked to the emotional aspect of the event, such as the exact appearance of the gun.
Kensinger argues that recognizing the effects of negative emotion on memory for detail may, at some point, save our lives by guiding our actions and allowing us to plan for similar future occurrences.
“These benefits make sense within an evolutionary framework,” writes Kensinger. “It is logical that attention would be focused on potentially threatening information.”
Current Directions in Psychological Science is a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Negative Emotion Enhances Memory Accuracy: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Evidence. Elizabeth A. Kensinger (2007). Current Directions in Psychological Science 16 (4), 213–218. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00506.x.
| Abstract |
The TS-Si News Service is a collaborative effort by TS-Si.org editors, contributors, and corresponding institutions. The sources can include the cited individuals and organizations, as well as TS-Si.org staff contributions. Articles and news reports do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. We welcome your comments. Use the form below to leave a public comment or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.                       Add this page to your favorite social bookmarking websites. To create link towards this article on your website, copy and paste the text below in your page. Preview :
Set as favorite
Email This
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
|||
| Last Updated on Sunday, 09 September 2007 03:35 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
The TS-Si News Service
and the TS-Si Research Service
are collaborations of TS-Si officials, staff, contributors, and corresponding institutions. Contents do not necessarily convey official positions of
TS-Si, its partners, or its affiliates. 