EMOTIONAL MEMORY: CHARACTERISTICS, PROCESS AND HOW IT WORKS - ARTE - 2025

The emotional memory refers to the ability of people to set memories from emotions. Multiple studies have shown that memory-related brain structures are closely associated with regions that modulate emotions.

Emotions are closely linked to memory, and the emotional content of events is considered to influence later memory. Information that is acquired emotionally is remembered differently than that acquired neutrally.

Faced with this close relationship between emotion and memory, a new memory structure has emerged, which is known as emotional memory. It is a very specific human capacity that is characterized by developing the memory of events through the emotional impact experienced.

Memory - emotions relationship

Emotional memory implies that emotionally significant events are retained differently from neutral events; emotional events are better and more easily remembered than more trivial events.

For example, a traumatic event during childhood such as a car accident or a fight with a partner is often remembered much more specifically during adulthood than trivial events such as what you ate last week.

This dichotomy of memories refers to selective memory. People do not remember all information in the same way. In this sense, emotionally experienced events seem to be remembered better than the rest.

In fact, multiple investigations show that the greater memory of emotionally intense experiences is due to greater ease of acquisition, greater maintenance over time, and greater resistance to extinction.

Positive emotions and negative emotions in memory

Emotional memory responds to both positive and negative emotions. In other words, events experienced emotionally (whatever their character) seem to be remembered differently from neutral or trivial experiences.

This fact is due to the fact that the brain structures that modulate positive emotions and those that modulate negative emotions are the same. Thus, the brain mechanism that explains the existence of emotional memory lies in the association between the structures of emotion and the regions of memory.

Aversive or traumatic events

Highly aversive or traumatic events can cause a particularly strong and consolidated memory. The person can remember these events frequently and in detail throughout her life.

An example of this type of memory would be the trauma suffered during childhood, which can appear repeatedly and be remembered permanently during adulthood.

Positive events

Finding similes with positive emotions is somewhat more complex. There are people who can remember in great detail the day of their wedding or the birth of their children, but often the memory is less intense than that of negative events.

This fact is explained by the intensity of the emotion. In general, negative events cause greater emotional disturbance, so the emotions experienced in those moments tend to be more intense.

In this way, traumatic events can be inserted more easily into emotional memory. But this is not to say that positive events cannot. They also do so, although generally less markedly due to their lower emotional intensity.

Brain structures of emotional memory

The main brain structure that is responsible for carrying out memory processes and that facilitates memory is the hippocampus. This region is located in the temporal cortex and is part of the limbic system.

For its part, the brain region that is responsible for giving rise to emotional responses is the amygdala. This structure consists of a set of nuclei of neurons located deep in the temporal lobes and is also part of the limbic system.

Hippocampus

Both structures (amygdala and hippocampus) are constantly connected. Likewise, their connection seems to have a special relevance in the formation of emotional memories.

Brain tonsil (blue dot)

This fact postulates the existence of two different memory systems. When people learn neutral information (such as reading a book or learning the syllabus of a subject), the hippocampus is responsible for building the memory without involving the amygdala.

However, when the items to remember contain a certain emotional charge, the amygdala comes into play.

In these cases, the first memory formation takes place in the amygdala, which acts as a storehouse of memories associated with emotional events. In this way, emotional memory does not start in the hippocampus like other memories.

Once the amygdala has encoded the emotional element and formed the memory, it transmits the information through synaptic connections to the hippocampus, where the emotional memory is stored.

Emotional memory formation process

Emotional memory has different characteristics and different brain registration mechanisms due to the action of emotion. It is the emotions that motivate the information to access the brain through different structures and for it to be consolidated in a more intense way.

Thus, emotional processes modify the functioning of memory, giving rise to the appearance of emotional memory. These modifications are explained by the amygdala-hippocampus relationship and are carried out both in the coding and in the consolidation of information.

1- Emotional coding

The first cognitive function that comes into play when shaping a memory is attention. In fact, without adequate attention the brain is unable to adequately perceive information and store it in its previous one.

In this sense, the first modification made by emotions is already detected in the way the information is perceived.

Emotional responses immediately provoke an alteration in people's physical and psychological functions. When an individual experiences an emotion, both the physical and psychological elements related to attention increase.

This fact allows the attention paid to the stimulus to be higher, so that the information is captured more easily and its subsequent storage is more satisfactory.

2- Emotional consolidation

The second phase of the generation of emotional memories consists of the retention or consolidation of the information in the brain structures. If the information captured by the senses is not consolidated in the brain, it gradually disappears and the memory does not remain (it is forgotten).

The storage of information in brain structures is not automatic, but rather a slow process, which is why it is often difficult to retain specific information in the long term.

However, emotional information seems to have a much shorter consolidation time. That is, it can be stored in the brain structures much more quickly.

This fact makes the probabilities that emotionally intense events will be remembered and maintained over time are much higher.

Influence of memory on emotion

The relationship between memory and emotion is not unidirectional but is bidirectional. This means that in the same way that emotion can affect memory (emotional memory), memory can also affect emotion.

This association has been especially studied by neuropsychologist Elisabeth Phelps when analyzing the interaction between hippocampus and amygdala. When the hippocampus retrieves emotionally intense information, it can interact with the amygdala to produce the emotion that accompanies it.

For example, when a person remembers a highly traumatic event, they immediately experience the emotions associated with that event. Thus, memory can elicit emotional responses, in the same way that experiencing emotions can modify memory formation.

The hippocampus and the amygdala are interconnected brain structures that allow the emotional components to be related to the mnestic elements constantly.

Emotional memory function

The association between emotional structures and regions of memory is not gratuitous. In fact, the relationship between the hippocampus and the amygdala plays an important adaptive role.

When people are in dangerous situations they react with an emotional response. This response allows a greater activation of both the psychological state and the physical state of the individual.

For example, if someone visualizes that a dog is going to attack them, they experience an emotional response of fear. This response makes it possible to stress the body, increase attention and focus all the senses on the threat.

In this way, the emotional response prepares the person to respond appropriately to a threat.

However, the process of defense and survival of human beings does not end there. The brain prioritizes the storage of emotionally intense events through the amygdala-hippocampus association so that they can be easily remembered.

Thus, emotional memory is a human capacity that is closely related to the survival of the species. It is much more useful for people to remember emotionally intense elements than neutral aspects because these are usually more important.

Studies on emotional memory

Emotional memory works as a filter system. This is in charge of selecting the facts that are most relevant due to their meaning and saves them in the memory in a more intense and lasting way.

From this evolutionary point of view, the human brain would be able to correctly recall aversive experiences even when these have occurred few times.

In this sense, Garcia & Koeling already demonstrated in 1966 that emotional memory can be formed even with a single presentation. Specifically, learnings such as taste aversion or fear conditioning can be acquired with a single trial.

These experiments show the high capacity of emotional memory. This allows the formation of lasting memories extremely quickly and easily, a fact that does not happen with "non-emotional memory."

Other research on emotional memory has focused on analyzing the mechanisms involved in the relationship between emotion and memory.

At the brain level, it seems that the structures that participate in the generation of emotional memory are the amygdala and the hippocampus. However, there appear to be more related factors.

Neuroendocrine Effects of Stress and Memory

Studies on the neuroendocrine effects of stress and its relationship with the formation of memories of stressful experiences have provided relevant data on emotional memory.

When a person is subjected to situations with high emotional content, they release a large amount of adrenal hormones. Mainly adrenaline and glucocorticoids.

Several investigations have focused on analyzing the effect of these hormones and have shown that it is closely linked to the emotion-memory interaction.

In this sense, Beylin & Shors showed in 2003 that the administration of an adrenal hormone known as corticosterone prior to carrying out a learning task, modulated memory and increased memory.

Likewise, De Quervain showed that memory modulation varies according to the moment and intensity with which the hormones are released. In this way, glucocorticoids make it easier for people to remember.

Subsequently, a study carried out by McCaug in 2002 showed that these hormonal effects are produced through central noradrenergic mechanisms. That is, through the action of the brain amygdala.

The presence of glucocorticoids in the blood causes a greater stimulation of the amygdala. When the amygdala is active, it begins to participate directly in the formation of memories.

In this way, when these hormones are administered into the blood, memory starts to function through the mechanisms of emotional memory, which is why memory is intensified and learning is more powerful and consolidated.

References

1. Beylin, AV & Shors, TJ (2003). Glucocorticoids are necessary for enhancing the acquisition of associative memories after acute stressful experience. Hormones and Behavior, 43 (1), 124-131.
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3. De Quervain, DJ-F., Roozendaal, B. & McGaugh, JL (1998). Stress and glucocorticoids impair retrieval of long-term spatial memory. Nature, 394, 787-790.
4. García, J. & Koelling, RA (1966). Relation of cue to consequence in avoidance learning. Psychonomic Science, 4, 123-124.
5. McEwen, BS & Sapolsky, RM (1995). Stress and cognitive function. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 5, 205–216.
6. McGaugh, JL & Roozendaal, B. (2002). Role of adrenal stress hormones in forming lasting memories in the brain. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 12, 205-210.