ABSTRACT

Emotional information is typically better remembered than neutral information. We asked whether emotional, compared to neutral, words were less vulnerable to the detrimental effects of divided attention. In two experiments, undergraduate students intentionally encoded words of intermixed valence (neutral, negative, or positive) and arousal (neutral, high, or low). Following a filled delay, memory was assessed with a free recall test. In Experiment 1, participants encoded visually-presented words under either full attention (FA; no distracting task) or divided attention (DA; concurrently making animacy decisions to auditorily-presented distractor words) in a counterbalanced, within-subjects design. As expected following FA at encoding, recall was significantly enhanced for negative compared to neutral words. Following DA at encoding, recall was significantly impaired across all valences. Critically, DA at encoding also eliminated the memory benefit for negative information: recall of negative words was no longer significantly different from neutral or positive words. In Experiment 2, we manipulated attention at retrieval rather than encoding. Remarkably, results from Experiment 1 were replicated: DA eliminated the well-known emotionality boost for negative words. In both experiments, memory for positive words did not significantly differ from neutral. Findings suggest that DA during either encoding or retrieval can interfere with the specific mechanisms by which negative emotion typically improves memory.

摘要

情绪信息通常比中性信息更容易记住。我们询问，与中性词相比，情感词是否不易受到分散注意力的不利影响。在两个实验中，本科生有意编码混合价（中性、消极或积极）和唤醒（中性、高或低）的词。在填满延迟后，通过免费回忆测试评估记忆力。在实验 1 中，参与者在完全注意（FA；没有分散注意力的任务）或分散注意力（DA；同时对听觉呈现的干扰词做出动画决定）下以平衡的被试内设计编码视觉呈现的单词。正如在编码 FA 之后所预期的那样，与中性词相比，否定词的召回率显着增强。在编码时遵循 DA，所有价态的回忆都显着受损。至关重要的是，编码时的 DA 还消除了负面信息的记忆优势：负面词的回忆不再与中性或正面词有显着差异。在实验 2 中，我们在检索时操纵注意力而不是编码。值得注意的是，实验 1 的结果得到了复制：DA 消除了众所周知的负面词的情绪提升。在这两个实验中，正面词的记忆与中性词的记忆没有显着差异。研究结果表明，在编码或检索过程中 DA 会干扰负面情绪通常改善记忆的特定机制。负面词的回忆不再与中性词或正面词有显着差异。在实验 2 中，我们在检索时操纵注意力而不是编码。值得注意的是，实验 1 的结果得到了复制：DA 消除了众所周知的负面词的情绪提升。在这两个实验中，正面词的记忆与中性词的记忆没有显着差异。研究结果表明，在编码或检索过程中，DA 会干扰负面情绪通常改善记忆的特定机制。负面词的回忆不再与中性词或正面词有显着差异。在实验 2 中，我们在检索时操纵注意力而不是编码。值得注意的是，重复了实验 1 的结果：DA 消除了众所周知的负面词的情绪提升。在这两个实验中，正面词的记忆与中性词的记忆没有显着差异。研究结果表明，在编码或检索过程中 DA 会干扰负面情绪通常改善记忆的特定机制。积极词的记忆与中性词没有显着差异。研究结果表明，在编码或检索过程中 DA 会干扰负面情绪通常改善记忆的特定机制。积极词的记忆与中性词没有显着差异。研究结果表明，在编码或检索过程中 DA 会干扰负面情绪通常改善记忆的特定机制。