Dissociation of immediate and delayed effects of emotional arousal on episodic memory

AbstractEmotionally arousing events are usually better remembered than neutral ones. This phenomenon is in humans mostly studied by presenting mixed lists of neutral and emotional items. An emotional enhancement of memory is observed in these studies often already immediately after encoding and increases with longer delays and consolidation. A large body of animal research showed that the more efficient consolidation of emotionally arousing events is based on an activation of the central noradrenergic system and the amygdala (Modulation Hypothesis; Roozendaal & McGaugh, 2011). The immediately superior recognition of emotional items is attributed primarily to their attraction of attention during encoding which is also thought to be based on the amygdala and the central noradrenergic system. To investigate whether the amygdala and noradrenergic system support memory encoding and consolidation via shared neural substrates and processes a large sample of participants (n = 690) encoded neutral and arousing pictures. Their memory was tested immediately and after a consolidation delay. In addition, they were genotyped in two relevant polymorphisms (α2B-adrenergic receptor and serotonin transporter). Memory for negative and positive emotional pictures was enhanced at both time points where these enhancements were correlated (immediate r = 0.60 and delayed test r = 0.46). Critically, the effects of emotional arousal on encoding and consolidation correlated only very low (negative r = 0.14 and positive r = 0.03 pictures) suggesting partly distinct underlying processes consistent with a functional heterogeneity of the central noradrenergic system. No effect of genotype on either effect was observed.

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Dissociable contributions of the amygdala to the immediate and delayed effects of emotional arousal on memory

10.1101/269050 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Dirk Schümann ◽

Tobias Sommer

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Emotional Arousal ◽

Neural Substrates ◽

Emotional Memory ◽

Emotional Stimuli ◽

Delayed Effect ◽

Delayed Effects ◽

Amygdala Activity ◽

Behavioral Memory ◽

Central Noradrenergic System

AbstractEmotionally arousal enhances memory encoding and consolidation leading to better immediate and delayed memory. Although the central noradrenergic system and the amygdala play critical roles in both effects of emotional arousal, we have recently shown that these effects are at least partly independent of each other, suggesting distinct underlying neural mechanisms. Here we aim to dissociate the neural substrates of both effects in 70 female participants using an emotional memory paradigm to investigate how neural activity, as measured by fMRI, and a polymorphism in the α2B-noradrenoceptor vary for these effects. To also test whether the immediate and delayed effects of emotional arousal on memory are stable traits, we invited back participants who were a part of a large-scale behavioral memory study about 3.5 years ago. We replicated the low correlation of the immediate and delayed emotional enhancement of memory across participants (r = 0.16) and observed, moreover, that only the delayed effect was, to some degree, stable over time (r = 0.23). Bilateral amygdala activity, as well as its coupling with the visual cortex and the fusiform gyrus, was related to the preferential encoding of emotional stimuli, which is consistent with affect-biased attention. Moreover, the adrenoceptor genotype modulated the bilateral amygdala activity associated with this effect. The left amygdala and its coupling with the hippocampus was specifically associated with the more efficient consolidation of emotional stimuli, which is consistent with amygdalar modulation of hippocampal consolidation.

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Ninjinyoeito exerts an antidepressant‐like effect by enhancing the central noradrenergic system

Traditional & Kampo Medicine ◽

10.1002/tkm2.1306 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Soichiro Tsutsumi ◽

Takuya Watanabe ◽

Akinobu Hatae ◽

Marika Hirata ◽

Hiroya Omori ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Noradrenergic System ◽

Central Noradrenergic System

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Abnormal Processing of Social Information from Faces in Autism

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892901564289 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 232-240 ◽

Cited By ~ 353

Author(s):

Ralph Adolphs ◽

Lonnie Sears ◽

Joseph Piven

Keyword(s):

Social Cognition ◽

Social Information ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Neural Substrates ◽

Social Knowledge ◽

Social Judgments ◽

High Functioning ◽

Impaired Ability ◽

Socially Relevant ◽

Underlying Processes

Autism has been thought to be characterized, in part, by dysfunction in emotional and social cognition, but the pathology of the underlying processes and their neural substrates remain poorly understood. Several studies have hypothesized that abnormal amygdala function may account for some of the impairments seen in autism, specifically, impaired recognition of socially relevant information from faces. We explored this issue in eight high-functioning subjects with autism in four experiments that assessed recognition of emotional and social information, primarily from faces. All tasks used were identical to those previously used in studies of subjects with bilateral amygdala damage, permitting direct comparisons. All subjects with autism made abnormal social judgments regarding the trustworthiness of faces; however, all were able to make normal social judgments from lexical stimuli, and all had a normal ability to perceptually discriminate the stimuli. Overall, these data from subjects with autism show some parallels to those from neurological subjects with focal amygdala damage. We suggest that amygdala dysfunction in autism might contribute to an impaired ability to link visual perception of socially relevant stimuli with retrieval of social knowledge and with elicitation of social behavior.

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