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Physiological arousal and visuocortical connectivity predict subsequent vividness of negative memories.

ABSTRACT: Relative to neutral memories, negative and positive memories both exhibit an increase in memory longevity, subjective memory re-experiencing and amygdala activation. These memory enhancements are often attributed to shared influences of arousal on memory. Yet, prior work suggests the intriguing possibility that arousal affects memory networks in valence-specific ways. Psychophysics work has shown that arousal-related heart rate deceleration (HRD) responses are related to enhanced amygdala-visual functional connectivity (AVFC) and visual perception of negative stimuli. However, in the memory realm, it is not known whether the effect of AVFC influences subsequent negative memory outcomes as a function of the magnitude of physiological arousal during encoding. Using psycho-autonomic interaction analyses and trial-level measures of HRD as an objective measure of arousal during encoding of emotional stimuli, our findings suggest that the magnitude of the HRD modulates the effect of AVFC on subsequent negative memory vividness. Specifically, AVFC effects in early visual regions predicted negative memory vividness, not neutral or positive vividness, but only in the presence of heightened physiological arousal. This novel approach was grounded in a replication of prior working showing enhanced HRD effects in the insula for negative stimuli. These findings demonstrate that the effect of arousal on emotional memory networks depends on valence and provide further evidence that negative valence may enhance the incorporation of visuo-sensory regions into emotional memory networks.

SUBMITTER: Kark SM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6639080 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Physiological arousal and visuocortical connectivity predict subsequent vividness of negative memories.

Kark Sarah M SM Kensinger Elizabeth A EA

Neuroreport 20190801 12

Relative to neutral memories, negative and positive memories both exhibit an increase in memory longevity, subjective memory re-experiencing and amygdala activation. These memory enhancements are often attributed to shared influences of arousal on memory. Yet, prior work suggests the intriguing possibility that arousal affects memory networks in valence-specific ways. Psychophysics work has shown that arousal-related heart rate deceleration (HRD) responses are related to enhanced amygdala-visual ...[more]

PMID: 31283709

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Project description:There is mixed evidence whether reflecting on an existential threat increases negative affect and thereby elicits subjective arousal and physiological activation. Additionally, it is debated whether different existential and non-existential threats elicit different arousal responses, although systematic comparisons are lacking. The current study explored affective, subjective, and physiological arousal responses while comparing several existential threats with a non-existential threat and with a control condition. One-hundred-and-seventy-one undergraduate students were randomly allocated to one of four existential threat conditions: mortality salience (MS), freedom restriction, uncontrollability, and uncertainty; or to the non-existential threat condition: social-evaluative threat (SET); or to a control condition (TV salience). Self-reported positive/negative affect was measured before and after reflection, while subjective arousal and physiological activation (electrodermal, cardiovascular, and respiratory) were measured on a high time-scale during baseline and reflection. Results showed larger increases in self-reported negative affect, as compared to the control condition, for all existential threat conditions, while there were no differences between the control condition and threat conditions regarding positive affect, subjective arousal, skin conductance, respiratory rate, and respiratory sinus arrythmia. There were subtle differences between existential and non-existential threat conditions, most notably in affective responses. Correlations showed positive associations between negative affect and subjective arousal and between trait avoidance and subjective arousal. This study is the first to systematically compare affective, subjective, and physiological changes in arousal due to reflecting on different existential threats, as well as one non-existential threat. We showed that, as compared to a control condition, reflecting on threats has a large impact on negative affect, but no significant impact on positive affect, subjective arousal, and physiological activation.

Dataset Information

Physiological arousal and visuocortical connectivity predict subsequent vividness of negative memories.

Publications

Physiological arousal and visuocortical connectivity predict subsequent vividness of negative memories.

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