How Does Emotion Affect Attention & Memory?

by Katherine R. Mickley Steinmetz, Elizabeth A. Kensinger

Out of all of the information that we experience, only a subset will become part of our memories. Attentional processes, engaged during an event's unfolding, are essential for allowing us to transform an experience into a memory, and emotion can critically modulate those attentional processes, increasing the likelihood that an emotional experience becomes part of our memory stores. This book reviews behavioural and neuroimaging evidence that has revealed effects of emotion on memory and attention in individuals with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010