Memory for Emotional Events

Abstract

Abstract How, if at all, do emotions influence memory for personal events? This basic question has had a longstanding and contentious history, particularly with respect to recollections of events charged with negative emotion such as sadness, shock, or terror. Discussions of the impact of strong negative emotions on memory have typically been focused within one of three research domains: eyewitness memory, flashbulb memory, and memory for traumatic experiences. Though each of these literatures has developed its own set of paradigms and idiosyncratic discussions, all three converge in their central focus on two controversial issues: (1) whether emotion enhances or diminishes the strength of memory for an event, and (2) whether special mechanisms are required to account for the effects of emotion on memory.