The memory works in a process of three stages- encoding, storage and retrieval. This enables humans to learn new material, store the material and then retrieve and extract it at a later date when necessary (Eysenck & Keane, 2010). However, many psychologists have researched the effect of emotion on these stages of memory processing. Many have been interested in the idea of emotion affecting the ability to accurately retrieve past events due to many alternating factors. Some argue that matching emotional states and events enhance one 's memory, resulting in people being able to correctly recall and retrieve the information, while others believe that an emotional situation hinders the ability to precisely encode and recall an event due to the
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There has been much research into the recall of a memory when in an emotional state or situation. State-dependent memory is a term founded where research has shown that memory recall improves when a person 's mood or emotional state corresponds with the mental state they were in when the material was encoded (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2013). One experiment carried out by Lang, Craske, Brown and Ghaneian (2001) looked at state-dependent memory using the emotion of fear. They induced the state of fear onto students who were scared of spiders and found that those who were in the same fearful state when learning and recalling the words performed better than those who were in different states. This study supports the idea of state-dependent memory as well as highlighting the idea that memory is enhanced due to emotion, but only when the person recalling the memory is in the same emotional state they were in when the event was experienced. Overall state-dependent memory may be classed as supporting evidence for the fact that memory is improved for emotional events, as state-dependent memory is demonstrating how emotion can advance one 's memory due to …show more content…
There has been much research to suggest that eye-witness accounts tend to be less accurate due to the intense emotion experienced. This can be linked to the Yerkes-Dodson Curve. The curve presents a link between the level of arousal and performance (Cohen, 2011). Relating this to emotional eye-witness accounts, it gives an explanation as to why inaccuracies may occur. When part of an intense, highly emotional event, levels of arousal peak resulting in the level of performance, in this case encoding details, to be at a low level. Thus resulting in the retrieval of details from memory to be inaccurate. A study carried out by Peters (1988) focused on the idea of how stress and anxiety can affect the accuracy of an eye-witness account (Eysenck & Keane, 2010). The experiment consisted of two groups of students having an injection and their pulse rate recorded. Some students found the process stressful while the emotions of others remained neutral. Peters (1988) found that the students with a higher pulse rate at the time of the injection were less accurate in identifying features of the nurse, than those who remained calm (Eysenck & Keane, 2010). Overall the experiment proved that high levels of emotional stress and anxiety can hinder the ability to accurately recall details. In discussing memory for emotional events the Yerkes-Dodson Curve explains how memory recall can be inaccurate as
There has been much research into the recall of a memory when in an emotional state or situation. State-dependent memory is a term founded where research has shown that memory recall improves when a person 's mood or emotional state corresponds with the mental state they were in when the material was encoded (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2013). One experiment carried out by Lang, Craske, Brown and Ghaneian (2001) looked at state-dependent memory using the emotion of fear. They induced the state of fear onto students who were scared of spiders and found that those who were in the same fearful state when learning and recalling the words performed better than those who were in different states. This study supports the idea of state-dependent memory as well as highlighting the idea that memory is enhanced due to emotion, but only when the person recalling the memory is in the same emotional state they were in when the event was experienced. Overall state-dependent memory may be classed as supporting evidence for the fact that memory is improved for emotional events, as state-dependent memory is demonstrating how emotion can advance one 's memory due to …show more content…
There has been much research to suggest that eye-witness accounts tend to be less accurate due to the intense emotion experienced. This can be linked to the Yerkes-Dodson Curve. The curve presents a link between the level of arousal and performance (Cohen, 2011). Relating this to emotional eye-witness accounts, it gives an explanation as to why inaccuracies may occur. When part of an intense, highly emotional event, levels of arousal peak resulting in the level of performance, in this case encoding details, to be at a low level. Thus resulting in the retrieval of details from memory to be inaccurate. A study carried out by Peters (1988) focused on the idea of how stress and anxiety can affect the accuracy of an eye-witness account (Eysenck & Keane, 2010). The experiment consisted of two groups of students having an injection and their pulse rate recorded. Some students found the process stressful while the emotions of others remained neutral. Peters (1988) found that the students with a higher pulse rate at the time of the injection were less accurate in identifying features of the nurse, than those who remained calm (Eysenck & Keane, 2010). Overall the experiment proved that high levels of emotional stress and anxiety can hinder the ability to accurately recall details. In discussing memory for emotional events the Yerkes-Dodson Curve explains how memory recall can be inaccurate as