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Procedia
Social and
Behavioral
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2011) 000–000 Sciences
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) 1457 – 1460
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

WCPCG-2011

The effect of positive arousal on working memory


Maryam Tajik Esmaeilia* , Masoumeh Karimib , Kazem Rasoulzadeh Tabatabaiec ,
Alireza Moradid , Neda Farahinie
a&c&e
Department of Psychology, University of Tarbiyat Modares, P. O. Box 1411717751, Tehran, Iran
b
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, P. O. Box 14155-6456, Tehran, Iran
d
Department of Psychology, University of Tarbiyat Moalem, P. O. Box 1571914911, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Manipulation of emotional conditions triggers neuro-chemical mechanisms and cause to release dopamine, epinephrine and
glucose. These neurotransmitters related to memory process through central or peripheral receptors. In this study the effects of
pleasant arousal which was the result of watching special films, was investigated on working memory based on gender. 60
volunteers (30 men, 30 women) who were selected among undergraduate students from Tehran and Tarbiyat Modares
Universities were accidentally divided into two groups. They completed a working memory scale. Each group watched one of the
emotional or neutral films. Immediately after watching the film, the working memory scale was being done as a post-test. In
order to assess the effect of positive arousal on working memory, first the difference between the scores of pre-test and post-test
was assessed and then they were compared using independent t-test. The results were significantly higher in experimental group
compare to the control group and show that positive emotional arousal enhances working memory.
© 2011
2011Published
PublishedbybyElsevier Ltd.
Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and
Guidance.
Keywords: positive arousal, working memory

1. Introduction

Memory mechanisms are highly under influence of a group of internal and external factors. Emotional states are
important internal factors. Since 1970, scientists paid more attention to the relationship between emotional states
and memory. Now many scientists believe that most memory processes and quality and quantity of information
storing is based on emotional states happens during entrance, recording and processing of perceptional inputs (Zare,
Ghanbariha, & Sadipour, 1387).
Working memory model emphasize on the executive and attentional aspects of short term memory which are
responsible for integration, processing, accessibility and temporary retrieval of information. Working memory also
actively direct and manipulate information and behaviors (Baddeley, 2003). Amygdale mediates responses which
are given to emotional arousal. During and immediately after encountering with emotional arousal, many
physiological systems in our body such as hormone releasing system start to work. These hormones (epinephrine,

* Maryam Tajik Esmaeili, Tel.: +0 9121353117


E-mail address: M_esmaeili26@yahoo.com

1877-0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.282
1458 Maryam Tajik
Maryam Tajik Esmaeili
Esmaeili /etProcedia
al. / Procedia - Social
– Social and Behavioral
and Behavioral Sciences
Sciences 30 (2011)
00 (2011) 1457 – 1460
000–000

corticotrophin, prolactin and vasopressin) are memory storing process mediators. Amygdale mediates the effect of
epinephrine and glucocorticoids on memory. So it is obvious that mental processes such as memory are highly under
influence of emotions.
In this study, the effect of positive emotional state (throw a positive film) on working memory was studied.

2. Method

This pseudo experimental study has a pretest- posttest design with control group.

2.1. Participant

A sample of N=60 undergraduate students (30 men and 30 women) attends in this study. They were being
selected among 21 to 36 year old Tarbiyat Madares and Tehran universities students. Participants were accidentally
divided into experimental and control groups.

2.2. Measures

Working memory Scale – This scale contained two subscales: number- letter sequence and spatial span. In
number- letter sequence subscale, a combination of numbers and letters will be read for the subject and he/she will
be asked to repeat the numbers from minimum to maximum and letters according to the alphabet order. There are 7
items in this subscale and each item includes 3 trials. The combination of numbers and letters are different in each
trial. When the subject failed to complete all three trials, the test will stop. Each correct response receive 1 score.
The total score will be the sum of all 7 items scores which ranged from 0 to 21.
There is a plate with 10 cubes in spatial span subscale. Numbers 1 to 10 is written on a dimension of these cubes
and only researcher can see them. In forward spatial span test, the researcher touches the cubes in an order and the
subject should touch in the same order after the researcher. In backward spatial span test the researcher touches the
cubes in an order and the subject should touch in the reverse order after the researcher. There are 8 items in this
subscale and each item includes 2 trials. The order of numbers in items and trials are different but the number of
touched cubes are same in 2 trials of each item. When the subject failed to complete both trials of an item, the test
will stop. Each correct response receive 1 score. The total score will be the sum of scores from forward and
backward subscales which ranged from 0 to 32. The total score for working memory Scale will be sum of two
subscales scores which ranged from 0 to 53. In this study Cronbach's alpha coefficient for pre-test is 0.71 and for
post-test is 0.79.
Arousal - In this study a piece of film (Rottenberg, Ray, Gross, 2007) was used to make participants in
experimental group emotionally aroused. Hasani (1387) assessed reliability and validity of this film in Iranian
culture. A piece of neutral film (Rottenberg, Ray, Gross, 2007) was used in control group. Five psychology
professors watched this film and confirm its neutrality and a pilot study was done on 20 peered subjects who were
not included the main sample.

3. Results

To investigate the effects of positive emotional state (throw a positive film) on working memory, first the
differences between pre-test and post-test score was calculated for each subject and then t-test for 2 independent

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groups was done to compare experimental and control groups. The results are showed in table 1. Both groups had
the same scores in pre-test but the in post-test the experimental group scored significantly higher on working
memory scale. It means that the pleasant arousal has enhancing effects on working memory.

Table1. Results of t-test for comparing experimental and control groups (df = 58)
M SD t p
1 3.20 3.74
Working memory 2.09 0.04
2 1.30 3.27
1 = experimental group 2= control group

4. Discussion

The purpose of this study was to investigate if the effects of positive emotional arousal enhance working
memory. The results show that positive emotional arousal enhances working memory. Making someone positively
aroused by watching films, activates emotional paths and facilitates the release of adrenalin, corticotropin, prolactin
and vasopressin which mediate storage process. Glucocorticoids and adrenalin affect memory by using a path way
named amygdale (Carlson, 2005). Previous studies proved the role of neurohormonal mechanisms in memory
enhancement: Dopamin (McGaugh, 2004), epinephrine (McGaugh, 2000) and glucose (Parent, Varnhagen, & Gold,
1999) are related to emotional states and also affect ones memory. Releasing epinephrine and norepinephrine while
experiencing a pleasant event activates central or peripheral receptors and brain stem.
Dopamine is a significant neurotransmitter in processes such as movement, attention and learning. Positive states
can enhance dopaminergic neurotransmission, boosting working memory efficiency. More generally, there is
evidence that the orbitofrontal cortex, believed to be critical for processing emotional information can interact with
ventral and dorsolateral prefrontal regions critical for semantic elaboration, phonological rehearsal, and information
manipulation. A number of neuroimaging studies have indicated that activation in orbitofrontal cortex is inversely
related to activity in dorsolateral prefrontal regions. Although the directionality of these connections remains to be
clarified, orbitofrontal activation during mood states could correspond with down regulation of dorsolateral
prefrontal activity. Because the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is essential for working memory performance, this
downregulation could have an impairing effect on working memory (Ashby, Isen, & Turken, 1999).
Limitations such as the sample type (volunteer participants), assessing method (not having a physiological
assessment) and ignorance of mediator variables call for further works. All these limitations cannot deny the
efficiency of the results which emphasize on the effect of emotional arousal on working memory. Teachers, students
and parents can rely on these findings and try to improve their learning to guarantee their success.

References

Ashby, F. G., Isen, A. M. & Turken, U. (1999). A neuropsychological theory of positive affect and its influence on cognition. Psychological
Review. 106, 529-550.
Baddeley, A. (2003). "Working memory: looking back and looking forward". Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4 (10): 829-839.
Carlson, N, R. (2005). Foundations of physiological psychology, 6th edition.
Hasani, J. (1387). The effect of suppression and reappraisal of emotional experiences on regional activity of brain, focused on extroversion and
neurotism, Ph.D theses , Tarbiyat Modares University.

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Procedia - Social
– Social and Behavioral
and Behavioral Sciences
Sciences 30 (2011)
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McGaugh, J. L. (2004). The amygdale modulates the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing experiences. Annual Review of
Neuroscience, 27, 1-28.
McGaugh, J. L. (2000). Memory-a century of consolidation. Science, 287 (14 January), 248-251.
Parent, M. B., Varnhagen, C., & Gold, P. E. (1999). A memory-enhancing emotionally arousing narrative increases blood glucose levels in
human subjects. Psychobiology, 27, 386-396. 
Rottenberg, J., & Ray, R. D., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Emotion elicitation using films. In J. A. Coan & J. J. B. Allen (Eds.), Handbook of emotion
elicitation and assessment. London: Oxford University Press.
Zare, H., Ghanbariha, N., & Sadipour, A. (1387). Compraing the recognition way of experiences from memory in anxious and non anxious
students, Journal of Behavioural Science, 3, 193-199.

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