Enhancing retention of information through postretrieval negatively arousing stimuli.

• Main Author: Lim, Yvonne ShiYing.
• Other Authors: Michael Donald Patterson
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52506
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Many studies have shown how emotions aid or impair memory during the encoding stage. Fewer studies have focused on this relationship during retrieval. This paper explores how inducing emotional arousal following retrieval affects performance on cued recall and recognition tests. Specifically, this study is an extension of previous experiments in this area and it manipulates the materials used (passages, cued recall and recognition tests), method (1 week retention interval) and paradigm (balanced design) to provide more ecological validity. Twenty undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University took part into in the study. They were randomly allocated into 2 groups – negative and positive postretrieval condition. Each participant had to go through both an emotional arousal and neutral (control) manipulation within either postretrieval condition. Participants first studied 2 passages, and then took a cued recall test of 20 questions. Feedback was given following each question, followed by a random presentation of an emotionally arousing or neutral picture from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). They returned a week later for a delayed cued recall and recognition test. In the delayed cued recall test, performance was best when participants were previously shown negatively arousing pictures. However, these negatively arousing pictures hindered performance on the delayed recognition test. No significant difference was found on questions that followed positively arousing pictures and neutral pictures. The study concludes that inducing negative emotional arousal immediately after retrieval can enhance retention of preceding information on a delayed cued recall test.