This week’s readings represent a treasure-trove of fascinating tidbits on affect and memory—especially regarding the question of the durability of memory—which I am still trying to bring together into a cohesive whole. In lieu of a grand narrative, then, perhaps an examination of the tidbits is in order.
LeDoux makes a profoundly intriguing point: in highly stressful situations, adrenal steroids can act upon the hippocampus in such a way as to impair explicit conscious memory. In contrast, such situations either have a neutral influence or actually enhance the operations of the amygdala. The latter would seem to make perfect sense in the creation of lasting fear-conditioned responses; in short, the longevity of implicit memory. Meanwhile, LeDoux examines the way in which fear-conditioning can imperfectly shapes responses—anxiety disorders such as phobias represent instances in which the fear-response is in great excess of the real threat posed by the stimuli. The fear system breaks loose from cortical controls.
At the same time, McGaugh writes in his “Meandering and Monumental Memory” chapter of traumatic events and their relationship to later stimuli-response scenarios. In extreme cases, a black hole around a traumatic memory ensues in which stimuli unrelated to the prime traumatic stimulus become associated with it. The stereotypical example is that of the
Another parallel with our discussion in class relates to so-called flashbulb memories, or the relationship between affect and long-term memory. Significant public events are indeed remembered over time; herein consequentiality and emotional response are fundamental to such durability. Nevertheless, very often memories meander, and thus make evident the constructive nature of memory. All memories are reconstructions in that they involves the interaction of many parts of the brain, but nonetheless remembering can often walk a fine line between reconstruction and creative necessity, where a specific event, such as a robbery, for example, is blended with similar past experiences and a generic notion of what a robbery entails. As
(Warning: some pseudo-philosophical meandering follows) What is accuracy, or objective memory then but an abstract, a perennial hypothetical? Memory is the interrelationship between perception and events in time and space. To the extent that no subject perceives with disinterest, then no event exists independent of those who perceive and thus construct it. This brings us back to the Clore-Huntsinger article and the “affect-as-information” hypothesis. Cognitive processes are interwoven with the affective information which underlies them, once more contesting the emotion-reason dichotomy.
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Kevi mentions how the relationships between cognition and emotion was addressed in this week's readings. I was really interested in the Clore et al study which explores how affect informs judgement and cognition. I related this to something I’ve experienced with young children. Every year I try to watch all the children in my preschool class individually do the same few puzzles. I learn a lot about their fine-motor and cognitive skills but, more importantly, I learn about their approach to difficult tasks. For example, whether they say “I can’t do it” or “This is so easy” as they work. Whether they get stuck on one piece or have some strategies for the puzzle (ie: process of elimination, using color cues or shape cues).
I often notice that the children who continually say “I can’t do it, It’s too hard” are also children who fixate on one puzzle piece and cannot move on. On the other hand, children with feelings of happiness, ease, or confidence are able to see the whole picture and to use a range of strategies. One interpretation of this is that the anxious or less confident children cannot “see the forest for the trees” and are not thinking about the whole puzzle or the whole process of their work. This may be congruent with Clore et al’s study showing that affect regulated global-local focus. It is interesting to think about how school curriculum or testing could take into account that emotion shapes cognition. Think of children in impoverished environments who are exposed to trauma and therefore, do not excell in school. For children much of learning to do a puzzle involves learning to regulate your emotions and have an emotionally healthy approach to difficult tasks.
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