Showing papers by "Margaret M. Bradley published in 1992"

Remembering pictures: pleasure and arousal in memory

Abstract: Incidental memory performance for pictures that varied along the affective dimensions of pleasantness and arousal was assessed. For both an immediate and delayed (1 year later) free-recall task, only the arousal dimension had a stable effect on memory performance: Pictures rated as highly arousing were remembered better than low-arousal stimuli. This effect was corroborated in a speeded recognition test, in which high-arousal materials encoded earlier in the experiment produced faster reaction times than their low-arousal counterparts. Pleasantness affected reaction time decisions only for pictures not encoded earlier. These results suggest that whereas both the dimensions of pleasantness and arousal are processed at initial encoding, long-term memory performance is mainly affected by arousal.

A Motivational Analysis of Emotion: Reflex-Cortex Connections

Abstract: This analysis postulates a motivational continuity from reflex reactions to complex, cognitively elaborated emotional expressions. Responses are motivated by either the positive-appetitive or the negative-aversive brain systems. Reflexes evoked during emotional processing are augmented if their affective valence (positive or negative) matches that of the active motivational system and inhibited when a mismatch is present. Research testing this biphasic model is described using the defensive startle probe reflex. It is shown that probe responses are reliably potentiated during perception and imagery of unpleasant events and reduced during pleasant events. The neurobehavioral foundations of this conception are presented, and the implications of probe analysis are elucidated for theories of emotion organization, the assessment of mood, and practical applications in psychopathology and neurological disorder.