Emotional Memory Conditioned Contextual fear a variation of classical conditioning A type of implicit memory Any meaningless stimulus associated with a fearful stimulus creates fear; therefore the context becomes a cause for fear In the context of the unconditioned stimulus event This signals potentially dangerous situations The autonomic system jumps in & produces increases in blood pressure, breathing, & heart rate

Does it go away? Extinction does occur after repeated presentations of the UCS with no UR However, there is “spontaneous recovery” of the conditioned responses under stress

The Amygdala’s Role in Emotional Memory If the amydala is removed in monkeys: lost terror of previously feared objects didn’t avoid noxious stimuli ate inappropriate objects tried to copulate with other species no fear conditioning no contextual fear conditioning if hippocampus function is also impaired

What about in humans (with no amydala)? Fear is lost but other emotions too as well as recognition of emotional expressions through the face or voice Double Dissociation through a study by Damasio et al. SS saw a set of colour slides When the blue slide appeared a loud boat horn sounding, producing an increased GSR (Galvanic Skin Response) Normal Ss were conditioned such that the blue color slide now produced and increased GSR Other Ss Damaged hippocampus = increased GSR, no recall of episode Damaged amygdala = recall of episode, no GSR Damaged hippocampus + damaged amygdala – no recall & no increase in GSR

Amydala -- The 911 (999 if in the UK) of the human mind A short cut from the thalamus (a way station of the sensory systems) Every major area of the brain Triggers flight or fight hormones Fixes the face in a fearful expression Mobilizes the centers for movement Increases blood flow to the muscles

Enhanced memory through emotional arousal Study by McGaugh & Cahill Group 1: story about a boy, riding a bicycle home, & then is driven by his mother to the hospital to pick up his father who works there as a doctor Group 2: similar story but the boy is hit by a car & rushed to the hospital Recall better for Group 2 if no propranolol (blocks noradrenaline); same with propranolol

Emotional Arousal Effects with Very Vivid Imagery Within an Episodic Context: Flashbulb memories Earliest memories Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

State Dependent Memory Types of Studies: Alcohol, drugs Mood manipulation studies Depressed patients Note:These effects are typically small Why do they occur

The key : Associative neural networks in which each event is represented by a cluster of units To consciously recall the event, a threshold of activation in the network has to be reached. Activate one and the others are activated as well eventually leading to activation of the cluster above threshold. Essential units have more weight in this process

Example Sad mood registered in relation to an accident that occurred in the fall at a friend’s house perhaps many years ago The network would include as component units sad mood the accident the season your friend house location A sad mood and the fall season might trigger enough activation to bring into consciousness the original episode

Note: Mood is just one of the components that can help trigger a memory! There are also well known effects of place dependency Study by Baddeley:with deep-sea divers Learn memory list on-shore or underwater Results: Lists learned on-shore are better remembered on-shore Lists learned underwater are better remember underwater Can you think of any place dependent effects you have experienced?