| The impact of emotion on memory has been supported by a number of studies (Putman et al., 2004; Burton et. al., 2004; Hamann, Squire & Cahill, 1997). The possible neuronal mechanism of this impact has also been examined (Packard & Cahill, 2001) and typically involves modulating influences of increased amygdala activation. There continues to be debate regarding whether valence, arousal, or a combination of the two drives this process. Affective priming is another area that has been extensively examined and found to impact both objective and subjective emotional responses (e.g., valence and arousal ratings, physiological measurements of arousal). In the current study, we examined whether affective priming, using suboptimal presentation of famous faces, would lead to increased arousal (as measured by SCR) and memory enhancement for faces and related semantic information (i.e., occupation). Two groups of famous face primes were developed (negative and neutral) and used as priming stimuli. 61 healthy graduate students ages 18-35 were asked to view and recall unfamiliar target faces and associated occupations, paired with suboptimal primes, while arousal levels were measured with skin conductance monitoring. No differences in memory performance or SCR were found between prime conditions. SCR associated with correct recognition and occupation recall was higher for the delay compared to performance at trial 2. There was also sex differences in SCR associated with correct memory performance. Subjective ratings of valence and familiarity of the prime famous faces was also related to memory performance. Arousal and memory performance were not associated with specific prime conditions, but arousal response was associated with subsequent memory performance. Differences in associations found in men and women suggest specific effects in women regarding negative valence and associated arousal on subsequent memory performance, while in men arousal alone, regardless of valence pairing was associated with performance. Implications of findings are discussed within the context of the broader literature examining sex differences in emotion processing. Study limitations and future directions are also addressed. |
