The Effects of Sleep on an Emotional Memory Trade-off

Abstract

Current research suggests that viewing complex scenes composed of a background and a negative, centralized image results in an emotion-induced memory trade-off. This trade-off is often characterized by high rates of memory accuracy for negative central images at the expense of a neutral background. In the present study, I explored whether the same trade-off effect is present for positive emotional stimuli. Therefore, when viewing complex scenes composed of a background and a positive central image, do people tend to remember the positive image more than they do the background? I examined two related research questions: (1) will positive scene components elicit an emotional memory trade-off effect? and (2) how does the passage of time, with and without sleep, influence positive scene components in comparison to negative scene components? Participants were separated into a sleep group and a wake group. The experiment consisted of two parts: the first was a viewing of 90 compound scenes and the second included a memory recognition test. Although the trade-off effect was present for negative valence items as well as positive objects, no main group effect was found. In other words, the emotional memory trade-off effect was not enhanced with sleep.