What Is The Importance Of Memory?

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Introduction Memory has been crucial for our survival – it has enabled us to learn and adapt. Remembering is a fundamental cognitive process that serves virtually all other cognitive functions (Bernecker, 2010). Memory has been studied vigorously throughout the last couple of decades. Researchers have been especially interested in what makes lasting memories. In one’s lifetime, there are many moments and not every memory is given an equal weight. The pioneering studies of Ebbinghaus suggested that memories are strengthened by retrieval and repetition (Ebbinghaus, 1885). In 2004, Sharot and Phelps published their paper on the study on how arousal modulates memory (Sharot & Phelps, 2004). In their study, they concluded that emotions …show more content…

In Adolphs’s study, bilateral damage to the amygdala resulted in worsened memory for gist memory sensitivity but better memory for visual details. The results suggested that the amygdala plays a role in processing relevant information from stimuli (Adolphs, Denburg, & Tranel, 2001). Gist memory refers to the categorical memory and detail memory refers to the specificity of a memory.
Memory is such a crucial part of our survival and learning process that it has been a heavily studied subject in psychology and neuroscience. Researching and finding ways to maximize our memory potential will help us maximize our potential and be more productive in work and play settings.
The focus of the current experiment is to test whether emotional valence and memory sensitivity affect memory. To test this experimental question, the experiment used two independent variables and a 2x3 Within-Subjects ANOVA design: memory sensitivity (gist and detail) and emotional valence (positive, neutral, negative images). The hypothesis was that positive and negative emotional valence and specificity memory sensitivity will increase memory recall performance. Also, the second hypothesis was that neutral emotional valence and gist memory sensitivity will have no effect on memory recall performance.
Materials and

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