WM Capacity (its maximum) is reasonable fixed per subject but WM fetches items or their relationship from LTM - emotional memories have often an easier access to more information and can be advantageous (if congruent) or diadvantageous (as Mark Bahr mentions in anxiety and depressed). If we are in a good mood, we are maximally awake and can use the maximum of our WM. In most laboratory settings WM is measured with abstract items the subject has no relationship to. That allows comparison between subjects but is not measuring necessarily the maximum performance. In short: you should not treat emotion and cognition separately - think of them as a continuum, being highly emotional biases your rational thoughts, but the opposite will not always give you better decisions, not in uncertain, ambigious environements where your gut feeling is well-suited to guide you. The middle is just right: liking your work and you also perform cognitively high. What you hate you may do well too, But having no "opinion" about smth lets you not engage in it, easily being distracted, tired and hence perform poorly. Good teachers know that - you either hate their topic or like it, but you have no memory of it if neither applied.

I have not yet read Joachim's reference papers and I cannot yet reply to Sandra's question - but I would think that right hemisphere (emotional memories) and left hemisphere (cognitive memories) will play a role. Robert Moss PhD (he is on RG) writes about "interhemispheric congruence" (see p10 of attached paper) and I would think that working memory will be enhanced when the hemispheres are "in accord" with each other. In other words if we "think" and "feel" the same way about a matter then working memory will be better because there is less "interference" (from the right hemisphere (which is not under direct cognitive control). See Bob's latest article, which I have attached, and which is aimed at introducing his Clinical Biopsychology Model. It seems reasonable to assume that if the two hemispheres are not in conflict then working memory (left hemisphere cognitive - "conscious") will be better as there will be less "unconscious" distractions. Not that the right hemisphere is not conscious - it is, but not under direct cognitive control. Just a few thoughts - maybe this is all covered in the references Joachim gave us. Joachim, thanks for the references. Sandra, good question, thanks.

Thank you for the suggested readings. I have not been able to go through all of them, but one question came up when I had a look on the first few:

in studies testing the effect of emotions on memory performance, we do not know for sure if working memory capacity is responsible for better memory performance. It might also be that some encoding processes are enhance under positive mood?

A colleague I have asked about the relationship between emotion and working memory capacity suggested that this capacity is in fact higher under positive emotions compared to negative emotions because there is less requirement for emotion regulation which requires working memory capacity. Any other suggestions/comments?

One model of depression and anxiety posits that normal executive function is impaired by the intrusion of worrying thoughts. That is to say anxiety and depression impose a cognitive load that has been associated with performance decrements in cognition in general. I can't recall the specific reference, but this has also been used as an explanatory mechanism for decrements in memory performance. The appearance of better performance in positive affect may be an artifact in so much as negative affect causes a decrement in performance, if compared to condition with no such additional load (a positive affect condition) the appearance is of cognitive enhancement when the difference is better accounted for as a contrast to the impaired performance.

WM Capacity (its maximum) is reasonable fixed per subject but WM fetches items or their relationship from LTM - emotional memories have often an easier access to more information and can be advantageous (if congruent) or diadvantageous (as Mark Bahr mentions in anxiety and depressed). If we are in a good mood, we are maximally awake and can use the maximum of our WM. In most laboratory settings WM is measured with abstract items the subject has no relationship to. That allows comparison between subjects but is not measuring necessarily the maximum performance. In short: you should not treat emotion and cognition separately - think of them as a continuum, being highly emotional biases your rational thoughts, but the opposite will not always give you better decisions, not in uncertain, ambigious environements where your gut feeling is well-suited to guide you. The middle is just right: liking your work and you also perform cognitively high. What you hate you may do well too, But having no "opinion" about smth lets you not engage in it, easily being distracted, tired and hence perform poorly. Good teachers know that - you either hate their topic or like it, but you have no memory of it if neither applied.

I believe that all cognition in the human being is altogether with emotion. Averroes (1126–1198) in his paper “the long commentary” (tafsir) say that the human mind is not only perception (posterior brain) and motility (anterior brain) but is also estimative-evaluative (emotional limbic brain?). But is this true?

The processing of information, that colloquially we call thinking, is largely made with gamma rhythms around 40 Hz. The hippocampus works primarily with theta rhythms that are slower. Fujisawa & Buzsaki, (2011) found that hippocampal theta rhythms coupling with gamma oscillations modulate and sustain the information processing, especially during fixing of the memory contents (Schack, Vath, Petsche, Geissler, & Moller, 2002).

It seems the limbic system, especially the hippocampus and amygdala, tag the information with emotions (Richter-Levin & Akirav, 2003). No matter if the information is emotionally positive or negative, the labeling process makes the brain systems recorded information. Indifferent are forgotten, relevant can be recalled.

The hypothesis of emotional tagging has been considered demonstrated in experiments on memory for facial expressions in interpersonal situations (Bell, et al., 2012). From these experiments the authors argue about the importance of emotional tagging in different types of learning.

Does WM work the same way? I think so.

RICHTER-LEVIN, G., & AKIRAV, I. (2003): "Emotional tagging of memory formation--in the search for neural mechanisms". Brain Res Brain Res Rev, 43(3), pp. 247-256.

BELL, R.; BUCHNER, A.; ERDFELDER, E.; GIANG, T.; SCHAIN, C., & RIETHER, N. (2012): "How specific is source memory for faces of cheaters? Evidence for categorical emotional tagging". J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn, 38(2), pp. 457-472.

FUJISAWA, S., & BUZSAKI, G. (2011): A" 4 Hz oscillation adaptively synchronizes prefrontal, VTA, and hippocampal activities". Neuron, 72(1), pp. 153-165.

SCHACK, B.; VATH, N.; PETSCHE, H.; GEISSLER, H. G., & MOLLER, E. (2002): "Phase-coupling of theta-gamma EEG rhythms during short-term memory processing". Int J Psychophysiol, 44(2), pp. 143-163.

Robert Moss (he is on RG) speculates as outlined in his article which I have attached.

Dear colleagues, I think that the intensity of emotions connected directly to the type and capacity of the memory. If the emotion deeper memory will be better. What has a greater emotional impact on us it will be better remembered (happy or tragic events in our lives are better remembered than the usual events). Important role in this process is the limbic system.

Hi,

Klein and boals (2001) found that after three sessions of expressive writing (telling the deepest feelings and emotions about a personal negative event) suppressed intrusive thoughts (assessed with the IES-R) which resulted in increase of working memory capacity. This increase in working memory capacity has been replicated in two other studies.

Kellogg, R. T., Mertz, Heather K., & Morgan, M. (2010). Do gains in working memory capacity explain the written self-disclosure effect? Cognition & Emotion, 24, 86-93

Klein, K., & Boals, A. (2001). Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 130 (3), 520-33.

Yogo, M., & Fujihara, S. (2008). Working memory capacity can be improved by expressive writing: A randomized experiment in a Japanese …. British Journal of Health Psychology. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1348/135910707X252440/abstract)

It is interesting to read what Robert Moss PhD (he is on RG) has to say about "emotional restructuring" and how this can bring the two hemispheres into "equilibrium". Expressive writing could be seen as similar to "emotional restructuring" and it could be that the less "conflict" there is between the hemispheres the better the working memory will be. Moss writes of positive emotional memories and negative emotional memories.

Curci, A., Lanciano, T., Soleti, E., & Rimé, B. (2013). Negative emotional experiences arouse rumination and affect working memory capacity. Emotion, 13(5), 867-880. doi:10.1037/a0032492

Russell, thanks for the reference. Would you have a full pdf copy for me? John

I also suggest you to look at Lotte van Dillen's work, who has investigated several aspect of emotional processing in relate with cognitive load.

Check her papers here:

http://dillen.socialpsychology.org/publications

Thanks Thierry. I see she is on RG too. Her work looks interesting.

A question: How does bi-lingualism or multi-lingualism affect writing, learning to write and its difficulties? (Perhaps you have already mentioned it - and if I missed it my apologies) John

Thierry, there is also the issue of emotional memories "attached" to a specific language. What can you tell me? John

Thanks Ivan.

Anyone still thinking about the classical and more fundamental about the relationship between processing capacity and CNS activation/arousal a la Yerkes Dodson, or much later Daniel Kahneman's variable capacity model as modulated by arousal?

Hi,

you might be interested in this work.

Mammarella, N., Borella, E., Carretti, B., Leonardi, G., & Fairfield, B. (2013). Examining an emotion enhancement effect in working memory: Evidence from age-related differences. Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 23(3), 416-428.

Hello!

I believe a few studies have examined this relationship. I agree with others on this board who suggest the relationship is non-linear and more of a "U-Shaped" curve.

For example, in an applied study on memory, researchers found that army officers at a training camp who were interrogated using high-stress interrogations showed poor performance at remembering the face of their interrogator whereas those in a low-stress (albeit still somewhat stressful) interrogation were more accurate at detecting their interrogators face (Morgan et al., 2004).

In the discussion of this paper, Morgan et al. explains this U-Shape relationship and has some good references that may help you out, too.

Morgan, C., Hazlett, G., Doran, A., Garrett, S., Hoyt, G., Thomas, P., & ... Southwick, S. M. (2004). Accuracy of eyewitness memory for persons encountered during exposure to highly intense stress. International Journal Of Law And Psychiatry, 27(3), 265-279. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2004.03.004

The inverted U is one important aspect of this more general phenomenon of arousal that may underlie the relationship you are seeking between emotion and WM capacity/attentional or processing capacity/human performance (depending on your theoretical bent). The other I mentioned earlier is Kahneman's treatment of processing capacity originally based on pupil size measures of arousal and concurrent task performance . He introduced the possibility that factors like emotion may not only modulate processing capacity via changes in arousal, but also affect performance by affecting the strategic distribution of attention /emphasis to ongoing tasks and stimuli. This is perhaps where emotional valence could play a role by biasing the manner in which available capacity is used to process internal and external events. So the basic notion is that emotion's effects on human cognitive performance may include changes in the capacity of WM, but also changes in how WM's capacity is utilized.

@john How does bilingualism affect writing, is of major interest for literacy acquisition but also for science since a majority of scientists write articles in English as a foreign language!

Basically, the idea is that because writing poses high demands in WM capacity; low knowledge of vocabulary or of syntactic structures draw apart WM ressources. Thus, writing in L2 does not only affect the psycholinguistic processes involved in second language writing, but also higher order conceptual processes. Texts are therefore less coherent, less structured, contain less ideas, and so on...

Regarding your question on memories attached to language(s), I have no idea at all!

Thanks Thierry. Hopefully someone who knows the answer(s) to the language(s) and memories question will respond. I think that we should separate cognitive memories (left hemisphere) from emotional memories (right hemisphere). Robert Moss PhD (he is on RG) suggests that these emotional memories are not under cognitive control - but do have an affect on the autonomic nervous system. And of course the autonomic nervous system will have an affect on all the processes involved in writing. Any comment(s) out there?

Hi all,

Related to this question you might find a paper we published (just this month) of interest. It can be found in my profile or at the following link:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0095261

This paper basically explores the relationship between short term (working) memory and storage for faces varying in emotion (angry, happy ,neutral).

Hello Sandra,

The late Alice Isen investigated for many decades the effect of positive emotions (positive affect) on creativity and high-level cognitive processes.

In one of her latest papers, she and her coauthors found that indirectly induced positive affect (positive emotion) facilitated performance not only on short-term memory but also on working memory tasks. You may want to check out this article:

Yang, H., Yang, S., & Isen, A. M. (2013). Positive affect improves working memory: Implications for controlled cognitive processing. Cognition & Emotion, 27(3), 474–482. doi:10.1080/02699931.2012.713325

Best

Miguel Kazén

Hi Miguel, thank you for suggesting this paper.This seems to be exactly what I have been looking for.

Sandra

Hi Sandra,

You are wellcome!

i hope that it helps.

Miguel

Dear Sandra, 

I would like to point you to my thesis were I looked at the relationship between emotions (both self-report and physiological arousal according to emotions) and working memory within-person and in daily life! We also have a publication that relates to my thesis in the journal psychology and aging. I can send you both - contact me via [email protected]

Best regards, 

Kathrin

Thank you Kathrin!

Hi all,

We are currently continuing research into one aspect of this area (and trialling online data collection methods!). If anyone has 25 to 40 minutes to spare, can find a quiet location/private space with access to a computer/laptop with a standard sized monitor (e.g. 12” or greater) and reliable internet connection, please feel free to find out more/take part in our new study:

https://derby.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_afL1KpgKjTR90ax