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

Section 4. Summary
In this chapter I have examined a range of issues including the
psychology of emotion, suitable methodologies for examining the influence of
emotion on memory and the different cognitive processes through which
emotion might exert its effects on memory. The aim of this literature review
was to place the research of this thesis within the context of the wider relevant
literature which is not considered within the experimental chapters. In this
thesis the later chapters will focus on aspects of encoding a memory, however,
this thesis begins by examining retrieval effects in memory using a mere
exposure paradigm. The mere exposure phenomenon was first investigated by
Zajonc (1968) who found that when stimuli are presented very briefly, repeated
exposure may lead to an increased preference for the stimuli with an
accompanying absence of any explicit recognition. In chapter 2 this paradigm
is used as a way of briefly presenting participants with stimuli to assess
different strategies of retrieving a memory (as investigated by Whittlesea &
Price, 2001) and of examining the influence this may have on the emotional
enhancement of memory. In chapter 3, the implications of using different
methodologies to examine the relationship between memory and emotion are
examined by comparing memory assessed with a Remember/Know/Guess
paradigm and other measures of recognition. We also examine how findings
from the Remember/Know/New paradigm compare to a newer paradigm for
investigating recognition memory in which memory for the specific visual
details of stimuli is assessed (Kensinger et al., 2006). In chapter 4, we begin to
consider effects at the time of encoding a memory and use the visual specificity
paradigm to examine the relationship between attentional factors and the
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