PDF (PhD Thesis Susan Chipchase) - Nottingham eTheses ...

Section 3.2. Which processes underlying memory may be affected by
emotion?
The processes by which emotions may have their enhancing effect on
memory are not clear. Early research demonstrated the effect that mood has on
encoding and retrieval of memory (e.g. Bower, 1981) and a recent review
confirmed that people process, encode and retrieve information differently
depending on their mood (Levine & Bluck, 2004). The main focus in this thesis
will be on the encoding and retrieval stages and these will be reviewed below,
although there will be brief consideration of emotion’s influence on
consolidation.
Section 3.2.1. Encoding
Two theories of how emotion may influence the encoding process of
memory are going to be discussed here. One theory is that emotion alters the
allocation and distribution of attention to an event or stimulus (e.g.
Christianson, 1992) and another theory is that emotional materials are
relatively rare or unusual and that this enhanced distinctiveness of emotional
stimuli may lead to the enhancement of memory (e.g. Schmidt, 2002).
Section 3.2.1.1 Attention
Emotion may influence attentional processes at the time of encoding
information into memory by emotional stimuli garnering more attentional
processing capacity or by a spatial narrowing of the distribution of visual
attention onto emotional stimuli.
i) Additional attentional processing capacity
The need for additional attentional resources to enable the more successful
encoding of emotional items and lead to their enhancement in memory has
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