The context reinstatement (CR) effect is the finding that target stimuli are better remembered when presented in the same context as during initial encoding, compared to a different context. It remains unclear, however, whether emotional features of the context affect this memory benefit. In two experiments, we investigated whether the anxiety-provoking nature of a context scene might influence the CR benefit to memory. During encoding, participants viewed target faces paired with scenes validated as either highly anxiety-provoking or not, half of which contained other faces embedded within the scene. During retrieval, target faces were presented again with either the same or a new context scene. In Experiment 1, the expected CR benefit was observed when the contexts were low-anxiety scenes or high-anxiety scenes without embedded faces. In contrast, the CR benefit was absent when the contexts were high-anxiety scenes containing embedded faces. In Experiment 2, to determine whether the presence of embedded faces or anxiety level of scenes drove the reduced CR effect, we included an additional context type: low-anxiety scenes with embedded faces. Once again, the CR benefit was absent only when the context scene was highly anxiety-provoking with embedded faces: reinstating this context type failed to benefit memory for targets. Results suggest that the benefit to target memory via reinstating a context depends critically on emotional characteristics of the reinstated context.

上下文恢复 (CR) 效应是发现，与不同的上下文相比，当在与初始编码期间相同的上下文中呈现目标刺激时，可以更好地记住目标刺激。然而，目前尚不清楚上下文的情绪特征是否会影响这种记忆益处。在两个实验中，我们调查了上下文场景的焦虑性质是否会影响 CR 对记忆的益处。在编码过程中，参与者查看了与验证为是否高度焦虑的场景配对的目标面孔，其中一半包含嵌入场景中的其他面孔。在检索过程中，目标人脸再次出现在相同或新的上下文场景中。在实验 1 中，当上下文是低焦虑场景或没有嵌入人脸的高焦虑场景时，观察到预期的 CR 收益。相比之下，当上下文是包含嵌入人脸的高焦虑场景时，CR 好处不存在。在实验 2 中，为了确定嵌入面孔的存在或场景的焦虑程度是否会导致 CR 效应降低，我们包括了一个额外的上下文类型：带有嵌入面孔的低焦虑场景。再一次，只有当上下文场景因嵌入的面孔而引起高度焦虑时，CR 的好处才不存在：恢复这种上下文类型未能使目标的记忆受益。结果表明，通过恢复上下文对目标记忆的好处主要取决于恢复上下文的情绪特征。为了确定嵌入面孔的存在或场景的焦虑程度是否会降低 CR 效应，我们包括了一个额外的上下文类型：带有嵌入面孔的低焦虑场景。再一次，只有当上下文场景因嵌入的面孔而引起高度焦虑时，CR 的好处才不存在：恢复这种上下文类型未能使目标的记忆受益。结果表明，通过恢复上下文对目标记忆的好处主要取决于恢复上下文的情绪特征。为了确定嵌入面孔的存在或场景的焦虑程度是否会降低 CR 效应，我们包括了一个额外的上下文类型：带有嵌入面孔的低焦虑场景。再一次，只有当上下文场景因嵌入的面孔而引起高度焦虑时，CR 的好处才不存在：恢复这种上下文类型未能使目标的记忆受益。结果表明，通过恢复上下文对目标记忆的好处主要取决于恢复上下文的情绪特征。