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Review
. 2007 Sep;133(5):761-79.
doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.5.761.

Retrieval of emotional memories

Tony W Buchanan  1
Affiliations
Review

Retrieval of emotional memories

Tony W Buchanan. Psychol Bull. 2007 Sep.

Abstract

Long-term memories are influenced by the emotion experienced during learning as well as by the emotion experienced during memory retrieval. The present article reviews the literature addressing the effects of emotion on retrieval, focusing on the cognitive and neurological mechanisms that have been revealed. The reviewed research suggests that the amygdala, in combination with the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, plays an important role in the retrieval of memories for emotional events. The neural regions necessary for online emotional processing also influence emotional memory retrieval, perhaps through the reexperience of emotion during the retrieval process.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic timetable of testing conducted in Buchanan et al. (2005). Autobiographical memory retrieval for events primarily from the remote memory epoch was tested in amnesic patients with damage to both the hippocampus and amygdala during the anterograde epoch. Intact hippocampal and amygdala during remote epoch allowed for assesment of the role of these structures in autobiographical retrieval.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ratings of emotional autobiographical memories from patients with damage to the hippocampus + amygdala (HC+), hippocampus only (HC), brain-damaged comparison (BDC), and normal comparison (NC) participants. HC+ participants rated their unpleasant memories as lower on intensity, vividness, significance, and novelty compared with the other participant groups. From “Emotional Autobiographical Memories in Amnesic Patients With Medial Temporal Lobe Damage,” by T. W. Buchanan, D. Tranel, and R. Adolphs, 2005, Journal of Neuroscience, 25, p. 3156. Copyright 2005 by the Society for Neuroscience. Reprinted with permission.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Hemodynamic responses of voxels in the amygdala, hippocampus, and inferior frontal gyrus during the retrieval of autobiographical (AM; solid lines) or semantic (SM; stippled lines) memories. y-axes represent average signal change. From “Co-Activation of the Amygdala, Hippocampus and Inferior Frontal Gyrus During Autobiographical Memory Retrieval,” by D. L. Greenberg et al., 2005, Neuropsychologia, 43, p. 665. Copyright 2005 by Elsevier. Reprinted with permission.
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