Congruência emocional na memorização de estímulos visuais

  • Marta Rocha de Almeida (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Theoretical Background: Episodic memory is a cognitive system that enables the spatio-temporal contextualization of events. In normal and pathological aging, changes can be observed, with critical functional consequences on the quality of life, showing the importance of interventions that facilitate mnesic cognition. The influence of emotional process on mnesic cognition arise through the common activation of neuronal networks underlying mnesic and emotional processes, enhancing the intensity of the subjective experience, therefore influencing its recollection. The main goal of this study is to explore the influence of congruent or incongruent emotional stimuli combination, visual and auditory, on episodic memory, as well as the performance variation in episodic recollection tasks in different ages. Method: The 60 subjects sample was divided in: Group 1 (18 - 35 years old) and Group 2 (55 - 70 years old). The stimuli combination included IAPS pictures and musical excerpts with reference to happiness and fear. The control condition only included neutral pictures. Three experimental conditions were created: congruent, when combined stimuli refer to the same emotion; incongruent, when combined stimuli refer to different emotions; and withoutsound, when there was only neutral pictures with no music support. Results: The incongruent condition showed higher recall results compared to the congruent and without-sound conditions, while recognition performance showed no differences between the experimental conditions. Results between groups showed no differences on the overall recall task. On the overall recognition task, Group 2 performed significantly better than Group 1. Both groups recollected more positive pictures than negative ones, except Group 1 that recognized as many positive pictures as negative. Discussion: Results contradict the idea that the congruent condition is more enhancing of visual memory than the incongruent condition. The advantage of emotional stimuli incongruence suggests that, if as a tendency, attention seems to focus on conflict resolution, therefore it must be oriented to incongruent situations, where the individual takes more time to react to stimuli. The difference in the overall recognition results between the two groups demonstrate the visual advantage in episodic memory in older adults. In agreement with previous studies, older adults show greater memory recollection for positive emotional pictures than for negative emotional ones.
Date of Award3 Jul 2017
Original languagePortuguese
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorFilipa Ribeiro (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Congruência de estímulos
  • Congruência de Estímulos
  • Músic
  • Stimuli Congruence

Designation

  • Mestrado em Neuropsicologia

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