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Psychophysiological Predictors Of Change In Emotion Dysregulation 6 Months After Traumatic Injury, Jacklynn M. Fitzgerald, Sydney Clare Timmer-Murillo, Claire Sheeran, Hailey Begg, Morgan Christoph, Terri A Deroon-Cassini, Christine L. Larson

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Emotional dysregulation that occurs after trauma conveys risk for multiple disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Psychophysiological data (e.g., skin conductance level [SCL]) may be a useful biomarker for quantifying emotion dysregulation given that autonomic nervous system (ANS)-mediated arousal may underlie this feature. In this longitudinal study, we tested whether SCL collected following a single-incident traumatic injury could predict changes in emotion dysregulation over 6 months. Sixty-six adults were recruited from the emergency department; SCL was quantified during an active trauma narrative, in which participants re-told their traumatic event to a research staff member, as well as a …

Post-Learning Arousal Enhances Veridical Memory And Reduces False Memory In The Deese-Roediger-Mcdermott Paradigm, Kristy A. Nielson, Anthony N. Correro

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm examines false memory by introducing words associated with a non-presented ‘critical lure’ as memoranda, which typically causes the lures to be remembered as frequently as studied words. Our prior work has shown enhanced veridical memory and reduced misinformation effects when arousal is induced after learning (i.e., during memory consolidation). These effects have not been examined in the DRM task, or with signal detection analysis, which can elucidate the mechanisms underlying memory alterations. Thus, 130 subjects studied and then immediately recalled six DRM lists, one after another, and then watched a 3-min arousing (n = 61) …

Motor Variability During Sustained Contractions Increases With Cognitive Demand In Older Adults, Marnie Lynn Vanden Noven, Hugo M. Pereira, Tejin Yoon, Alyssa A. Stevens, Kristy A. Nielson, Sandra K. Hunter

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

To expose cortical involvement in age-related changes in motor performance, we compared steadiness (force fluctuations) and fatigability of submaximal isometric contractions with the ankle dorsiflexor muscles in older and young adults and with varying levels of cognitive demand imposed. Sixteen young (20.4 ± 2.1 year: 8 men, 9 women) and 17 older adults (68.8 ± 4.4 years: 9 men, 8 women) attended three sessions and performed a 40 s isometric contraction at 5% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) force followed by an isometric contraction at 30% MVC until task failure. The cognitive demand required during the submaximal contractions in each session …

Muscle Tension Induced After Learning Enhances Long-Term Narrative And Visual Memory In Healthy Older Adults, Kristy A. Nielson, Laura L. Wulff, Timothy J. Arentsen

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Arousing events are better remembered than mundane events. Indeed, manipulation of arousal, such as by muscle tension, can influence memory even when it occurs shortly after learning. Indeed, our founding study showed this approach can raise delayed memory performance in older adults to a level comparable to that of unaided young adults. Yet, systematic studies, especially those investigating different modalities or types of memory, have not been done. This study investigated the effects of a brief bout of isometric exercise via handgrip on narrative and visuospatial episodic memory in healthy elders. Forty-seven participants completed the Logical Memory subtest of the …

Memory Modulation In The Classroom: Selective Enhancement Of College Examination Performance By Arousal Induced After Lecture, Kristy A. Nielson, Timothy J. Arentsen

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Laboratory studies examining moderate physiological or emotional arousal induced after learning indicate that it enhances memory consolidation. Yet, no studies have yet examined this effect in an applied context. As such, arousal was induced after a college lecture and its selective effects were examined on later exam performance. Participants were divided into two groups who either watched a neutral video clip (n = 66) or an arousing video clip (n = 70) after lecture in a psychology course. The final examination occurred two weeks after the experimental manipulation. Only performance on the group of final exam items that …

Memory For Emotionally Provocative Words In Alexithymia: A Role For Stimulus Relevance, Mitchell Meltzer, Kristy A. Nielson

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Alexithymia is associated with emotion processing deficits, particularly for negative emotional information. However, also common are a high prevalence of somatic symptoms and the perception of somatic sensations as distressing. Although little research has yet been conducted on memory in alexithymia, we hypothesized a paradoxical effect of alexithymia on memory. Specifically, recall of negative emotional words was expected to be reduced in alexithymia, while memory for illness words was expected to be enhanced in alexithymia.

Eighty-five high or low alexithymia participants viewed and rated arousing illness-related ("pain"), emotionally positive ("thrill"), negative ("hatred"), and neutral words ("horse"). Recall was assessed 45 …

Reduction Of The Misinformation Effect By Arousal Induced After Learning, Shaun English, Kristy A. Nielson

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Misinformation introduced after events have already occurred causes errors in later retrieval. Based on literature showing that arousal induced after learning enhances delayed retrieval, we investigated whether post-learning arousal can reduce the misinformation effect. 251 participants viewed four short film clips, each followed by a retention test, which for some participants included misinformation. Afterward, participants viewed another film clip that was either arousing or neutral. One week later, the arousal group recognized significantly more veridical details and endorsed significantly fewer misinformation items than the neutral group. The findings suggest that arousal induced after learning reduced source confusion, allowing participants to …

Enhanced Post-Learning Memory Consolidation Is Influenced By Arousal Predisposition And Emotion Regulation But Not By Stimulus Valence Or Arousal, Kristy A. Nielson, William Lorber

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Emotionally arousing stimuli are more memorable than neutral ones and arousal induced after learning enhances later retrieval. However, there is as yet little study of how stimulus qualities might interact with induced arousal and how individual differences might influence the modulation of memory. Thus, the present study examined the effect of arousal induced after learning on memory for words that varied in both arousal and valence quality, as well as the influence of three individual differences factors that are known to influence arousal response: emotional suppression, emotional reappraisal, and arousal predisposition. Seventy-six adults (57 female) viewed and rated 60 words …

Positive And Negative Sources Of Emotional Arousal Enhance Long-Term Word-List Retention When Induced As Long As 30 Min After Learning, Kristy A. Nielson, Mark R. Powless

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

The consolidation of newly formed memories occurs slowly, allowing memories to be altered by experience for some time after their formation. Various treatments, including arousal, can modulate memory consolidation when given soon after learning, but the degree of time-dependency of these treatments in humans has not been studied. Thus, 212 participants learned a word list, which was followed by either a positively or negatively valenced arousing video clip (i.e., comedy or surgery, respectively) after delays of 0, 10, 30 or 45 min. Arousal of either valence induced up to 30 min after learning, but not after 45 min, significantly enhanced …

Memory Enhancement By A Semantically Unrelated Emotional Arousal Source Induced After Learning, Kristy A. Nielson, Douglas Yee, Kirk I. Erickson

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

It has been well established that moderate physiological or emotional arousal modulates memory. However, there is some controversy about whether the source of arousal must be semantically related to the information to be remembered. To test this idea, 35 healthy young adult participants learned a list of common nouns and afterward viewed a semantically unrelated, neutral or emotionally arousing videotape. The tape was shown after learning to prevent arousal effects on encoding or attention, instead influencing memory consolidation. Heart rate increase was significantly greater in the arousal group, and negative affect was significantly less reported in the non-arousal group after …

The Effects Of Non-Contingent Extrinsic And Intrinsic Rewards On Memory Consolidation, Kristy A. Nielson, Ted Bryant

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Emotional and arousing treatments given shortly after learning enhance delayed memory retrieval in animal and human studies. Positive affect and reward induced prior to a variety of cognitive tasks enhance performance, but their ability to affect memory consolidation has not been investigated before. Therefore, we investigated the effects of a small, non-contingent, intrinsic or extrinsic reward on delayed memory retrieval. Participants (n = 108) studied and recalled a list of 30 affectively neutral, imageable nouns. Experimental groups were then given either an intrinsic reward (e.g., praise) or an extrinsic reward (e.g., $1). After a one-week delay, participants’ retrieval performance …