As we know from our own experiences and the findings of many studies, emotional events are remembered with greater accuracy, vividness, and persistency compared to events lacking an emotional component (LaBar and Cabeza, 2006; Roozendaal and McGaugh, 2011). How emotional memory is controlled and regulated? This question has fascinated scientists and clinicians for a long time; in fact, the field focused on memory and motivational/emotional processes represents one of the fastest growing areas of neuroscience research. The selectivity that arousal creates is generally beneficial, as emotionally arousing situations in our lives are worth remembering, so that they can be savored and/or instructive. From an evolutionary point of view, it seems logical that a confrontation with an emotionally arousing event, such as a stressful one, is better remembered than a neutral one, resulting in a more adequate motivation to react in a similar situation.
Why emotional arousal enhances memory? Taking into account that neural processes initiated by an experience perseverate and consolidate over time, a possible explanation is that emotional arousal could activate neurobiological processes that modulate the consolidation of memories of recent experiences.
This special issue includes original papers and review articles that cover cutting-edge research in the interplay between memory, motivation, and emotion, providing the reader with what is up and coming with respect to research findings, theoretical advances, and methodological techniques. Many of the current “hot” topics in the field are covered, including the involvement of specific cerebral regions on the interaction between memory and motivational/emotional processes, the contribution of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, and the role of arousal and stress.
The enhanced memory for emotional events has been attributed to the involvement and interaction of brain regions, in particular between the amygdala and other areas such as the hippocampal formation and prefrontal cortex (Phelps, 2004; Richter-Levin, 2004; McIntyre et al., 2012). The amygdala is active during emotional situations, and this activity influences the encoding and consolidation of the memory trace for the emotional event (McGaugh, 2004). On the light of previous evidence, some papers of this special issue focus on the role of specific neural regions in the interplay between memory and motivational/emotional processes, such as cortical and mesocorticolimbic areas (Martínez-Moreno et al., 2011; El Rawas et al., 2012; Holloway-Erickson et al., 2012; Puglisi-Allegra and Ventura, 2012), hippocampal formation (Hori et al., 2011; Garín-Aguilar et al., 2012), amygdala, substantia nigra, and striatum (Salado-Castillo et al., 2011; Wolf et al., 2011), septal nuclei (Matsuyama et al., 2011), nucleus accumbens (Núñez-Jaramillo et al., 2012), and autonomic nervous system (Garcia et al., 2011). Another group of papers analyzes the role and interaction of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, such as catecholamines (Puglisi-Allegra and Ventura, 2012), endocannabinoids (Campolongo et al., 2012), acetylcholine and glucocorticoids (Fornari et al., 2012; Sánchez-Resendis et al., 2012) on memory and motivational/emotional processes. In order to highlight the impact of motivation and emotion on memory, functional neuroimaging techniques were used, including multichannel electroencephalography (EEG) (Arnone et al., 2011; Garcia et al., 2011; Uribe et al., 2011) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (Jepma et al., 2012; Rosales-Lagarde et al., 2012). Moreover, taking into account that recent studies have revealed seemingly large, but previously unsuspected, sex-related influences on the well-known mechanism that emotional events are better memorized than neutral events, this special issue includes evidence of sex-related differences in memory and talkativeness for emotional stimuli (Arnone et al., 2011). Finally, considering that in recent years a key conceptual issue, that warrants attention, is the fact that many studies examining emotional memory have focused on the highly arousing nature of emotional stimuli or experimental contexts, as the key component contributing to the enhancement of memory, some papers of this special issue discuss the involvement of arousal and stress in the interplay between memory, motivation, and emotion (Cruciani et al., 2011; Uribe et al., 2011; Packard and Goodman, 2012).
In conclusion, we hope that this special issue have provided evidence of the important and rapid progresses in this very interesting and relevant topic, and may give a significant contribution to the knowledge of how memory can be affected by emotional experiences, and related motivation. Then, taking into account that this emergent field is in continuous and fast growing, we strongly hope that the present special issue may motivate many neuroscientists to conduct other studies, paving the way for the next great theories and advances.
References
1
ArnoneB.PompiliA.TavaresM. C.GasbarriA. (2011). Sex-related memory recall and talkativeness for emotional stimuli. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:52. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00052
2
CampolongoP.RatanoP.ManducaA.ScattoniM. L.PalmeryM.TrezzaV.et al. (2012). The endocannabinoid transport inhibitor AM404 differentially modulates recognition memory in rats depending on environmental aversiveness. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:11. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00011
3
CrucianiF.BerardiA.CabibS.ConversiD. (2011). Positive and negative emotional arousal increases duration of memory traces: common and independent mechanisms. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:86. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00086
4
El RawasR.KlementS.SaltiA.FritzM.DechantG.SariaA.et al. (2012). Preventive role of social interaction for cocaine conditioned place preference: correlation with FosB/DeltaFosB and pCREB expression in rat mesocorticolimbic areas. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:8. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00008
5
FornariR. V.WichmannR.AtuchaE.DesprezT.Eggens-MeijerE.RoozendaalB. (2012). Involvement of the insular cortex in regulating glucocorticoid effects on memory consolidation of inhibitory avoidance training. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:10. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00010
6
GarciaA.UribeC. E.TavaresM. C. H.TomazC. (2011). EEG and autonomic responses during performance of matching and non-matching to sample working memory tasks with emotional content. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:82. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00082
7
Garín-AguilarM. E.Díaz-CintraS.QuirarteG. L.Aguilar-VázquezA.MedinaA. C.Prado-AlcaláR. A. (2012). Extinction procedure induces pruning of dendritic spines in CA1 hippocampal field depending on strength of training in rats. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:12. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00012
8
Holloway-EricksonC. M.McReynoldsJ. R.McIntyreC. K. (2012). Memory-enhancing intra-basolateral amygdala infusions of clenbuterol increase Arc and CaMKIIα protein expression in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:17. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00017
9
HoriE.TabuchiE.MatsumuraN.OnoT.NishijoH. (2011). Task-dependent and independent synchronous activity of monkey hippocampal neurons in real and virtual translocation. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:36. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00036
10
JepmaM.VerdonschotR. G.van SteenbergenH.RomboutsS. A. R. B.NieuwenhuisS. (2012). Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:5. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00005
11
LaBarK. S.CabezaR. (2006). Cognitive neuroscience of emotional memory. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 7, 54–64. 10.1038/nrn1825
12
Martínez-MorenoA.Rodríguez-DuránL. F.EscobarM. L. (2011). Late protein synthesis-dependent phases in CTA long-term memory: BDNF requirement. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:61. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00061
13
MatsuyamaN.UwanoT.HoriE.OnoT.NishijoH. (2011). Reward contingency modulates neuronal activity in rat septal nuclei during elemental and configural association tasks. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:26. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00026
14
McGaughJ. L. (2004). The amygdala modulates the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing experiences. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 27, 1–28. 10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144157
15
McIntyreC. K.McGaughJ. L.WilliamsC. L. (2012). Interacting brain systems modulate memory consolidation. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 36, 1750–1762. 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.11.001
16
Núñez-JaramilloL.Rangel-HernándezJ. A.Burgueño-ZúñigaB.MirandaM. I. (2012). Activation of nucleus accumbens NMDA receptors differentially affects appetitive or aversive taste learning and memory. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:13. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00013
17
PackardM. G.GoodmanJ. (2012). Emotional arousal and multiple memory systems in the mammalian brain. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:14. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00014
18
PhelpsE. A. (2004). Human emotion and memory: interactions of the amygdala and hippocampal complex. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 14, 198–202. 10.1016/j.conb.2004.03.015
19
Puglisi-AllegraS.VenturaR. (2012). Prefrontal/accumbal catecholamine system processes high motivational salience. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:31. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00031
20
Richter-LevinG. (2004). The amygdala, the hippocampus, and emotional modulation of memory. Neuroscientist10, 31–39. 10.1177/1073858403259955
21
RoozendaalB.McGaughJ. L. (2011). Memory modulation. Behav. Neurosci. 125, 797–824. 10.1037/a0026187
22
Rosales-LagardeA.ArmonyJ. L. del Río-PortillaY.Trejo-MartínezD.CondeR.Corsi-CabreraM. (2012). Enhanced emotional reactivity after selective REM sleep deprivation in humans: an fMRI study. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:25. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00025
23
Salado-CastilloR.Sánchez-AlavézM.QuirarteG. L.Martínez GarcíaM. I.Prado-AlcaláR. A. (2011). Enhanced training protects memory against amnesia produced by concurrent inactivation of amygdala and striatum, amygdala and substantia nigra, or striatum and substantia nigra. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:83. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00083
24
Sánchez-ResendisO.MedinaA. C.SerafínN.Prado-AlcaláR. A.RoozendaalB.QuirarteG. L. (2012). Glucocorticoid-cholinergic interactions in the dorsal striatum in memory consolidation of inhibitory avoidance training. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:33. 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00033
25
UribeC. E.GarciaA.TomazC. (2011). Electroencephalographic brain dynamics of memory encoding in emotionally arousing context. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:35. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00035
26
WolfD. H.GerratyR. T.SatterthwaiteT. D.LougheadJ.CampelloneT.ElliottM. A.et al. (2011). Striatal intrinsic reinforcement signals during recognition memory: relationship to response bias and dysregulation in schizophrenia. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5:81. 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00081
Summary
Keywords
Emotional Memory, emotional memory and neurotransmitters, emotional memory and cerebral areas, Motivation, emotion
Citation
Gasbarri A and Tomaz C (2012) Memory and motivational/emotional processes. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 6:71. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00071
Received
11 October 2012
Accepted
16 October 2012
Published
02 November 2012
Volume
6 - 2012
Edited by
Carmen Sandi, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Reviewed by
Carmen Sandi, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Copyright
© 2012 Gasbarri and Tomaz.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and subject to any copyright notices concerning any third-party graphics etc.
*Correspondence: antonella.gasbarri@cc.univaq.it
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.