Effect of Emotion on Memory Essay
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Added on 2020-12-09
Effect of Emotion on Memory Essay
Added on 2020-12-09
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The effect of emotion onmemory
TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1ESSAY.............................................................................................................................................1CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTIONEmotions are defined as feelings or conscious state which can alter psychological as wellas physical behaviour of an individual. They have close impact on memory and functionaloutputs of brain. Various elements such as flashbulb memory and neurotransmitters also interactswith brain areas which get affected by emotions (Christianson, 2014). The essay will highlightthe relationship between memory and emotions. It will describe the brain or memory regionswhich are influenced by emotions along with the concepts of flashbulb memory and falsememory syndrome. The essay will also analyse the functioning of neurotransmitters and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ESSAYScientific definition of emotion: According to Emotion, 2018 emotion can be expressed as body sensations, consciousnessand behavioural aspects which highlights the significance of an event or any object. Earlierneuroscientists considered emotions as the elusive which were difficult to define and wereunacceptable for the researches. But with gradual development in researches and their impact onbrain they have become an area of great study. Thus, they can also be defined as the peak stageof bio-regulation for human beings which have significant impact on maintaining well being andhomeostatic balance. They have ability to affect thinking, decision making, brain functioning aswell as physical and physiological health. As per the discussion in Reisberg and Heuer, 2017 emotions play vital role in learningmechanism and memorisation thus is closely related to memory of living beings. It isphysiological response which is expressed through body posture, facial expressions and internalbiological parameters such as blood pressure, pulse rate, heart rate and respiration rate. From theneurobiological perspective emotions are mental states which may be pleasant or unpleasant andare organised within limbic system of brain in mammals. The emotions are characterised bybrain activities in which neurochemical such as dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline candownsize or accelerate. Impact of emotions on memoryThe quality and time spent in memorisation is affected by emotions. The brain finds iteasy to remember the event which are charged with emotions as compare to emotionless events.1
This impact is so much dominating that brain can remember emotional events at the cost of otherevents which are not linked with emotion. As the person grows old their ability to manageemotions is also polished which helps them to easily take in negative information and itsmemorisation. According to Chai and et.al., 2017 amiable emotions fade slowly than unpleasantones but with individuals with depression or psychological disorders both pleasant andunpleasant emotions fade uniformly. Thus, memory is assisted by emotional arousal not by thesignificance or importance of information to be stored. The role of emotions is visible at allstages of memorisation. These stages include encoding of information, consolidated memoriesand recalling. The memories which have association with emotions are easy to recall and retrieve eventafter long time. This is the reasons that individuals finds it easy to recall the actions or events oftheir ancestors or their childhood memories even in their old age. It is very difficult or almostimpossible to erase or remove the emotional memories. The individuals can have awareness ofthe fact which can activate or recall theses memories but they cannot eliminate these from theirbrain even after long duration. During information encoding or its retrieval also emotional stateis crucial. For instance, when someone is depressed they at first they will remember negativememories stored in their brain and memory regions (El Haj and et.al., 2015). Similarly, the recall functioning of memory is also depends on emotional quotient. Strongemotions have more critical impact on memory and emotional strength can be regulated byexpressing the emotions through body postures or internal parameters such as heart beats.Various stats or forms of emotions can impair and assist memory depending upon their strengthand nature. The emotions can also lead to hormonal changes which affects the brain regionsincluding memory sections of brain. For example stress hormone released due to emotional disturbance can interact withAmygdala (memory region of brain) which can influence the other parts of brain as well.Emotions can also affect the information encoding by the means of working memory. Forexample during state of anxiety emotion working memory of brain is occupied with fear, worriesand thus processing capacity can reduce. In relation with this fact it is also observed thatindividual who are anxious to certain activity or event may have memorisation problem whenthey perform that activity (LeBlanc, McConnell and Monteiro, 2015). 2
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