Emotional arousal enhances the impact of long-term memory in attention

Abstract

Research reveals that long-term memory guides attention. However, it remains unclear how it interacts with emotional arousal to guide attention. To address this issue, we asked participants to learn the locations of a target key embedded within scenes (i.e. a training phase). On the next day, participants’ arousal was manipulated by presenting with a previously fear-conditioned tone (CS+) or a neutral tone that had not been paired with electrical stimulation (CS−), followed by the brief presentation of a scene from the training phase. Participants indicated whether the scene included the target key. The target was presented at the same location as in the training phase. Results revealed that CS+, compared with CS−, led to faster target detection, suggesting that arousal induced by CS+ enhanced the effects of long-term memory in guiding attention. These findings support our hypothesis: Arousal amplifies the effects of priority in visual search due to long-term memory.