Event-Related Potential Correlates of the Retrieval of Emotional and Nonemotional Context

In two experiments, we examined event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited in an old/new recognition memory test by emotionally neutral visual objects that, at encoding, had been associated with neutrally, negatively, or positively valenced background contexts. In Experiment 2, subjects also judged th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cognitive neuroscience 2004-06, Vol.16 (5), p.760-775
Main Authors: Smith, Adam P. R., Dolan, Raymond J., Rugg, Michael D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Association Learning - physiology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain Mapping - methods
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Cognition & reasoning
Electroencephalography - methods
Electrophysiology
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Evoked Potentials - physiology
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Judgment - physiology
Learning. Memory
Male
Memory
Mental Recall - physiology
Neurology
Photic Stimulation
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Tests
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Summary:In two experiments, we examined event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited in an old/new recognition memory test by emotionally neutral visual objects that, at encoding, had been associated with neutrally, negatively, or positively valenced background contexts. In Experiment 2, subjects also judged the context in which the item had been studied. In Experiment 1, “left parietal” old/new ERP effects were elicited by correctly recognized items. Items encoded in emotional contexts, but not those studied in neutral contexts, elicited additional effects early in the recording epoch over lateral temporal scalp and, later, over left temporo-frontal scalp. In Experiment 2, “left parietal” and “right frontal” ERP effects were elicited by recognized items that attracted correct source judgments. Additional effects, an early lateral temporal positivity and a late-onset, left-sided positivity, were elicited by items studied in emotionally valenced contexts and attracting correct source judgments. Together, the findings indicate that retrieval processing is influenced by the emotional valence of the context in which an item is encoded, regardless of whether contextual information is task relevant.
ISSN:0898-929X
1530-8898
DOI:10.1162/089892904970816