Time course of effects of emotion on item memory and source memory for Chinese words

Although many studies have investigated the effect of emotion on memory, it is unclear whether the effect of emotion extends to all aspects of an event. In addition, it is poorly understood how effects of emotion on item memory and source memory change over time. This study examined the time course of effects of emotion on item memory and source memory. Participants learned intentionally a list of neutral, positive, and negative Chinese words, which were presented twice, and then took test of free recall, followed by recognition and source memory tests, at one of eight delayed points of time. The main findings are (within the time frame of 2 weeks): (1) Negative emotion enhances free recall, whereas there is only a trend that positive emotion enhances free recall. In addition, negative and positive emotions have different points of time at which their effects on free recall reach the greatest magnitude. (2) Negative emotion reduces recognition, whereas positive emotion has no effect on recognition. (3) Neither positive nor negative emotion has any effect on source memory. The above findings indicate that effect of emotion does not necessarily extend to all aspects of an event and that valence is a critical modulating factor in effect of emotion on item memory. Furthermore, emotion does not affect the time course of item memory and source memory, at least with a time frame of 2 weeks. This study has implications for establishing the theoretical model regarding the effect of emotion on memory.