Impact of Emotion 1
Running head: IMPACT OF EMOTION ON RECALL
Impact of Emotion on Recall Ability in Depressed
and Nondepressed Individuals
Katie Cardella
St. Bonaventure University
Impact of Emotion 2
Abstract
The present experiment is based on a study by Kazui et al which looked at the impact of emotional stimuli on recall ability in Alzheimer's patients. The findings of this study along with other similar studies have shown that emotion helps facilitate memory. Participants in the present study were asked to complete a depression inventory to determine their depression level. They were hen asked to study two photographs; one neutral and one "emotional" photo, and then tested on their recall of the details of those pictures. Participants with low depression scores had higher recall accuracy of both the neutral and the emotional photos. Greater accuracy was also reported for the emotional photo as compared to the neutral photograph. It is concluded that emotional stimuli facilitates recall ability in individuals regardless of the presence of depression.
Impact of Emotion 3
Impact of Emotion on Recall Ability in Depressed
and Nondepressed Individuals
Declarative
memory is the aspect of memory
that stores facts, figures and events. It is based on pairing the stimulus with
a correct response and is closely related to textbook learning. Previous
studies have shown that depression can have a negative impact of certain
cognitive abilities, including declarative memory. Heugel's (1996) findings in a study concerning
depressed individuals was consistent with prior research indicating that a
subgroup of depressed individuals manifests deficits of declarative memory and other cognitive abilities as compared
to nondepressed individuals. This is one of many studies showing that clinical depression effects a
number of cognitive functions, in particular, visual and verbal memory and
naming. Comparisons such as these
however are not limited to clinical depression. Numerous studies, such as those
conducted by Crumrine (2003), Heugel (1996), Kizilbash et al (2002) and others
look at individuals exhibiting symptoms of depression, rather than clinically diagnosed depression. This is
important given that the current study is only concerned with individuals
exhibiting symptoms and personality tendencies towards depression rather than those
with clinical depression.
Emotion and affect has
also been shown to have an effect on memory, although a much more positive one
than that of depression. In a study conducted with Alzheimer's patients, Kazui
et al (2000) used short stories to test the memory of their subjects. The
studies were either netrually charged or emotionally charged. They
hypothesized, and
Impact
of Emotion 4
concluded through their data, that that emotional arousal enhances
declarative memory in patients
with Alzheimer's disease. Their ideas for future research included testing this
method on other patients, such as those with dementia and other conditions that
can be debilitative towards memory. This can also be applied towards
individuals with depression, which as mentioned, can impair memory and other
cognitive functions.
The purpose of the present study is to test the findings of previous studies which showed that emotional stimuli, in this case visual stimuli, help to facilitate recall ability. Since it is also hypothesized that depression plays a role in memory ability, this study also serves to test the impact of depression levels on recall. It is predicted that individuals with low depression scores will have more accurate recall of the photographs than those with high depression scores. Individuals with low depression scores will score higher on recall accuracy on both the neutral and the emotionally charged photo relative to individuals with high depression scores. It is also predicted that the emotionally charged photos will yield higher recall accuracy than the neutral photos. While it is predicted that highly depressed individuals will have lower overall recall accuracy, their emotionally charged photo scores will be higher than that of the neutral photos.
Method
Subjects
50 St. Bonaventure undergraduate students participated in this study. They were all over the age of 18 and consisted of 18 males and 32 females.
Impact
of Emotion 5
Materials
The Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) was used for testing purposes.
Procedure
Testing took place over the course of 3 weeks. Participants were tested one at a time. Participants were asked to complete the BDI-II. The participants were not told what the test was measuring however. After completing the BDI-II, the participants were told they were about to see 2 photos and that they had 20 seconds to study each photo. They viewed the emotional picture first, and were told a brief fictitious caption for the photo which was used to enhance the emotional impact of the photo. After viewing the first photo, the participants were given a form consisting of 10 questions pertaining to the photo they just saw. These 10 questions asked the participants to recall certain details of the photo. After completion of the question form, the same procedure was followed for the neutral photo. The one procedural difference with the neutral photo however, was that no caption was given explaining the photo in any way.
Hypothesis
There will be a main effect of
depression; More highly depressed individuals will
have a lower recall of picture details than lower depressed individuals
Impact of Emotion 6
There will be a main effect of the
emotional charge of the pictures; Emotionally charged
pictures will yield higher recall accuracy than neutral pictures
There will be an interaction between the
variables. The emotionality of the pictures is more powerful than depression in
determining recall. The difference in the recall between depressed and
non-depressed relied on level of arousal.
Results
***I am still in the process of collecting data but here is what I expect to find***
Recall of the emotional photos was more accurate than that of the neutral photos. The emotional photo had a mean recall accuracy of 9.1 correct responses while the neutral photos had a mean recall accuracy of 7.8 correct responses. A within subject t-test was performed for the recall of both photos. Emotional vs. Neutral photo t(49)= 3.128, p< 0.000,
Depression index scores ranged from 0 to 14, out of a possible 60, with a mean of 7.
Discussion
This data was found to be congruent with that of the previous studies which suggested a link between depression and cognitive impairment as well as those studies
Impact of Emotion 7
suggesting that affect and emotion help to facilitate declarative memory. As was hypothesized, the emotionally charged photo yielded a statistically significant higher accuracy report than the neutral photograph. The depression factor was difficult to determine as none of the participants fell into the "high depression" category. The highest score off the BDI-II was 14 out of 60, indicating a low level of depression. While the effect of depression on recall ability could not be clearly determined, the effect of emotion on recall was evident. It was predicted that the emotionality of the photo outweighed the depression factor, making the lack of variety in depression scores a minor setback.
This procedure originally called for the participants to have 30 seconds to study the photographs. This was shown to be too long of a time period as the photos were not that involved or detailed. Once actual testing began, the time allowed to study the photos was shaved to 20 seconds.
The t-test that was performed showed that the data was significant for the comparison between the charge of the photos. Figure 1 shows that emotion did infact play a role in recall ability for details (declarative memory). The data was statistically significant concerning the effect of emotion on recall, supporting the hypothesis that emotionally charged pictures will yield higher recall accuracy than neutral pictures. I is expected however, that if different levels of depression were present, that that would have an inpact on the recall accuracy that was found. There was simply not a high enough depression score to qualify as "high." Therefore, the hypothesis that more highly
Impact of Emotion 8
depressed individuals will have a lower recall of picture details than lower depressed individuals could not be accurately analyzed.
Impact of Emotion
9
References
Impact of Emotion
10
Figure Caption
Figure 1.The mean comparisons of recall accuracy between the emotionally charged and neutral photographs.
Impact of Emotion 11
