Enhancing effects of emotion on learning and memory in adolescents
How we think about things that have happened to us in the past can have a significant impact on our beliefs about ourselves and our expectations for the future (Schacter, Addis, & Buckner, 2008). This impact can be greater for emotional memories, which are remembered more vividly than memories that are more neutral (Kensinger & Ford, 2020). These formative effects may be particularly important during adolescence, as this period is associated with heightened emotional reactivity (Arnett, 1999) and vulnerability to poor emotion-related outcomes (e.g., suicide, anxiety, and depression; Eaton et al., 2006).
Emotional and social processing may be distinctly affected during one’s adolescent years, including decreased control over cognition and emotions (Somerville & Casey, 2010), increased anxiety following social rejection (Sebastian et al., 2011), and greater negative physical responses to social evaluation (Somerville et al., 2013). However, it is currently unclear how these changes in experience translate to changes in memory for emotional events, and how these memories are used to construct one’s self-concept. The current research will compare emotional experience and personal memory in adolescents and young adults to establish these downstream effects of emotional processing.
It has also been suggested that adolescents’ emotional processing may be influences by their unique stage of neural development. Because emotional processing regions of the brain develop more quickly than regions that support cognitive and emotional control (e.g., Casey, Jones, & Hare, 2008), adolescents experience a mismatch in neural development that may make it difficult for teens to control their emotional response (Spear, 2000). Future projects will examine how development of these distinct brain regions can influence emotional cognition in adolescents.
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