Neuroimaging of Emotional Association Formation and Subsequent Effect on Memory

描述（由申请人提供）：许多功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）研究表明，杏仁核和内侧颞叶（MTL）记忆系统之间的相互作用可预测随后对情绪唤起刺激的记忆，但不能预测中性刺激的记忆。这些结果通常被认为反映了唤醒对情绪信息巩固的调节作用。此外，情感刺激还能从语义和知觉处理的改善中受益，这同样有助于记忆编码。然而，很少有研究调查了驱动这些编码和巩固益处的功能网络如何也会影响对中性刺激的记忆，这些中性刺激在时间上或概念上与情绪刺激相关。我们试图解决这些问题，首先，描绘的语义处理和它的神经相关的情绪记忆的水平处理范式（具体目标1）的贡献。其次，我们的目标是评估唤醒驱动的增强巩固是否赋予随后的记忆好处，时间接近中性刺激测试的中性刺激之前或之后的唤醒刺激（具体目标3）。最后，我们试图通过研究编码过程中的语义阐述如何促进情感和中性信息之间的关联来统一这两个目标（具体目标3）。因此，我们提出了一系列的功能磁共振成像研究，将阐明语义编码和唤醒介导的巩固增强记忆的情绪刺激以及相关的中性刺激。我们预计，语义编码需求的增加将招募一个功能网络，包括杏仁核和外侧下前额叶皮层，这个网络将与杏仁核-MTL网络一起发挥作用，以支持情感关联的形成及其随后的记忆益处。拟议的研究计划将整合大脑和行为科学，以澄清情绪和记忆的相互作用。通过解决这种相互作用，我们为更深入地理解与情感和记忆障碍相关的疾病奠定了基础，如抑郁症和创伤后应激障碍。此外，这一系列的研究可能会揭示一种自然发生的机制，通过这种机制，“普通”记忆可以被增强--通过唤醒的影响或通过自身充满情绪的显著性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A number of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that interactions between the amygdala and medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system predict subsequent memory for emotionally-arousing but not neutral stimuli. These results are typically thought to reflect the modulatory influence of arousal on consolidation for emotional information. In addition, emotional stimuli benefit from improvements in semantic and perceptual processing, which should likewise facilitate memory encoding. Few studies, however, have investigated how the functional networks driving these encoding and consolidation benefits might also impact memory for neutral stimuli that have been temporally or conceptually associated with emotional stimuli. We seek to address these issues by, first, delineating the contribution of semantic processing and its neural correlates to emotional memory within a levels-of processing paradigm (Specific Aim 1). Second, we aim to evaluate whether arousal-driven enhancements in consolidation confer subsequent memory benefits to temporally-proximate neutral stimuli by testing memory for neutral stimuli that are preceded or followed by an arousing stimulus (Specific Aim 3). Finally, we seek to unite these two aims by investigating how semantic elaboration during encoding might additionally facilitate associations between emotional and neutral information (Specific Aim 3). We therefore propose a series of fMRI investigations that will elucidate how semantic encoding and arousal-mediated consolidation enhance memories for emotional stimuli as well as associated neutral stimuli. We expect that increased semantic encoding demands will recruit a functional network including the amygdala and lateral inferior prefrontal cortex, and that this network will act in conjunction with the amygdala-MTL network to support the formation of emotional associations and their subsequent memory benefits. The proposed research program will integrate the sciences of brain and behavior to clarify the interaction of emotion and memory. By addressing this interaction, we lay the groundwork for deeper understanding of disorders associated with disturbances in both affect and memory, such as depression and post- traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, this line of research might reveal a naturally-occurring mechanism by which "ordinary" memories can be enhanced-via the influence of arousal or by becoming imbued with emotional salience themselves.