Doctoral Dissertation Research: Effect of Attention on Memory for Negative and Neutral Words

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Effect of Attention on Memory for Negative and Neutral Words. Abstract With National Science Foundation support, Elizabeth Kensinger and Dr. Suzanne Corkin will conduct a one-year neuroimaging study as part of Ms. Kensinger's doctoral dissertation. The study is aimed at uniting two areas of research: the detrimental effects that divided attention has on a person's ability to learn information, and the memory enhancing effects of emotion. When our attention is divided as we attempt to learn information, memory suffers. Ample behavioral data support this conclusion, yet the changes that occur in the brain have not been fully explored. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) the proposed studies will investigate what network of brain regions is recruited as a person attempts to learn information while performing a difficult distractor task. The studies will also examine the neural cirtuitry involved in later retrieval the information that was learned under that attention demanding condition. It is also not known how divided attention affects memory for information that we typically remember very well, for example, emotional information. Daily experiences are often infused with an emotional richness that has typically been absent, and even actively avoided, in experimental studies of learning and memory. Although behavioral studies have shown that individuals remember emotional stimuli better than neutral, it is unclear how manipulating the attentional resources available at the time of learning affects memory for emotional stimuli. The proposed studies will examine the behavioral effect of divided attention on memory for emotional as compared to neutral stimuli. The proposed behavioral and fMRI studies together will advance knowledge about the effects of attention on memory for neutral and emotional verbal stimuli.