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Disentangling the Effects of Arousal and Valence on Memory for Intrinsic Details

Davis School of Gerontology and Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA, mara.mather{at}usc.edu

Matthew Sutherland

Davis School of Gerontology and Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA

Kensinger (2009) and Mather (2007) both argue that intrinsic features of emotional items are remembered better than intrinsic features of non-emotional items. However, Kensinger attributes these effects to negative valence whereas Mather attributes them to arousal. In this paper, we note several reasons why arousal may be the driving factor even when a study reveals more detailed memory for negative items than for positive items. We also reanalyze previous data (Mather & Nesmith, 2008) to show that although both arousal and negative valence were correlated with memory accuracy, enhanced memory accuracy was accounted for by arousal rather than valence.

Key Words: binding • emotion • memory

Emotion Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, 118-119 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1754073908100435


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This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. L. Novak and M. Mather The tenacious nature of memory binding for arousing negative items Mem Cognit, October 1, 2009; 37(7): 945 - 952. [Abstract] [PDF]

				E. A. Kensinger What factors need to be considered to understand emotional memories? Emotion Review, January 1, 2009; 1(2): 120 - 121. [Abstract] [PDF]