Memories do not only focus on the events that took place , but also on the physiological responses that occurred simultaneously; in fact, the emotional intensity and relevance of a situation seem to be the key factors that explain why its imprint is maintained in the long term.

Sometimes the emotional memory of an event may even continue to exist after the events have been forgotten; this is common in phobia cases, where the traumatic experience that caused the fear to appear is not always remembered.

In this article we will describe what emotional memory is and what its biological basis is , as well as defining the nature and mechanisms of influence of the relationships between memory and emotions.

What is emotional memory?

In the field of Psychology we can define emotional memory as the learning, storage and recall of events associated with physiological responses that took place at the time of those events. It is also related to the retrieval of other information and details associated with the specific event.

However, this is a very broad concept whose use varies according to the context; for example, the famous theatrical pedagogue Konstantin Stanislavski called "affective memory" a technique of interpretation consisting of remembering events to evoke certain emotions.

Emotional memory is one of the core aspects of human identity: our most vivid autobiographical memories are often associated with very intense emotions, whether positive or negative. It has been suggested that we remember the physiological state we were in at a given moment more than the facts themselves.

From the evolutionary perspective, it is argued that emotional memory developed because it increased our ability to adapt to the environment, allowing us to react quickly to situations that could involve a danger to survival.

The relationship between emotions and memory

Memory and emotion are intimately related processes; all stages of memory, from information coding to long-term recovery , are facilitated by emotional factors. This influence is bidirectional, so that memories often provoke the appearance of emotions, for example.

Emotion has modulating effects both on declarative or explicit memory and on non-declarative or implicit memory. What makes us remember an event better or worse is not so much its relevance to personal history as the intensity of the emotions we experience when that moment took place.

Factors influencing recall

In general, two emotional factors are discussed that affect memory: the degree of activation and the validity of the emotion . The emotional activation associated with a stimulus or situation makes attention focus on it, so that it will be better remembered in the future, especially if our emotional state is similar to that of the learning context.

However, intense emotions can also interfere with other types of memory, namely procedural and working memory. This affects the consolidation of memories and is related to attention; for example, dissociative experiences that occur under intense stress make it difficult to consolidate information.

In the framework of the psychology of emotions, the word "valence" is used to designate the positive or negative quality. In general memories associated with pleasant emotions are remembered better and in more detail than negative ones, especially as measured at advanced ages.

A phenomenon related to emotional valence is that of state dependence, proposed by Bower. State dependence consists of the fact that we remember emotionally positive events more easily if we are happy and more negative experiences if we are sad.

Biological basis of emotional memory

The brain structure known as the amygdala plays a fundamental role in emotional memory. Besides allowing the learning of the association between situations and emotions, the amygdala sends signals that facilitate memory-related operations in other areas of the brain, especially the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

Its central role is the learning by classical conditioning of emotional responses, by which we associate a stimulus with the emotions we feel while it is present, as happens in phobias. The activity of the amygdala has been mainly related to negative emotions, and more specifically to fear.

Although more research is needed on this topic, it is known that stress hormones, such as cortisol , interact with the amygdala. These effects can be facilitating, but also inhibiting: for example, when we feel anxiety the consolidation of memories worsens because the working memory is partially occupied by stress.

Among the functions of the frontotemporal regions of the brain as a whole is the facilitation of the retention, storage and retrieval of emotionally charged memories; in turn, feelings of emotional activation promote the long-term recall of these events.

Bibliographic references:

  • Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psychologist, 36(2): 129-148.
  • D’Argembeau, A., Comblain, C. & Van der Linden, M. (2002). Phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories for positive, negative, and neutral events. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17(3): 281-94.
  • LaBar, K. S. & Cabeza, R. (2006). Cognitive neuroscience of emotional memory. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7: 54-64.