Impact of emotion on memory: Controlled study of the influence of emotionally charged material on declarative memory in Alzheimer's disease

In an earlier study we showed that a powerful emotional experience (the Kobe earthquake) reinforced memory retention in patients with Alzheimer's disease, but we could not control factors other than the emotional impact of the earthquake. To test our previous findings in a controlled experiment...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of psychiatry 2000-10, Vol.177 (4), p.343-347
Main Authors: KAZUI, HIROAKI, MORI, ETSURO, HASHIMOTO, MAMORU, HIRONO, NOBUTSUGU, IMAMURA, TORU, TANIMUKAI, SATOSHI, HANIHARA, TOKIJI, CAHILL, LARRY
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Aged
Alzheimer Disease - psychology
Alzheimer's disease
Analysis of Variance
Arousal
Case-Control Studies
Dementia
Dementia disorders
Earthquakes
Emotions
Female
Gender
Humans
Male
Memory
Memory - physiology
Memory Disorders - psychology
Mental Recall
Neurodegenerative diseases
Neuropathology
Neuropsychological Tests
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Psychiatry
Short stories
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Summary:In an earlier study we showed that a powerful emotional experience (the Kobe earthquake) reinforced memory retention in patients with Alzheimer's disease, but we could not control factors other than the emotional impact of the earthquake. To test our previous findings in a controlled experimental study. Recall tests consisting of two short stories were administered to 34 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 10 normal subjects. The two stories were identical except for one passage in each story: one was emotionally charged (arousing story) and the other (neutral story) was not. In both groups, the emotionally charged passage in the arousing story was remembered better than the counterpart in the neutral story. In addition, the extent of the memory improvement was similar in the subjects and in the controls. The results provide further evidence that emotional arousal enhances declarative memory in patients with Alzheimer's disease, and give a clue to the management of people with dementia.
ISSN:0007-1250
1472-1465
DOI:10.1192/bjp.177.4.343