INTACT ENHANCEMENT OF DECLARATIVE MEMORY FOR EMOTIONAL MATERIAL IN AMNESIA

Emotional arousal has been demonstrated to enhance declarative memory (conscious recollection) in humans in both naturalistic and experiment al studies. Here, we examined this effect in amnesia, Amnesic patients and controls viewed a slide presentation while listening to an accomp anying emotionally arousing story. In both groups, recognition memory was enhanced for the emotionally arousing story elements. The magnitud e of the enhancement was proportional for both amnesic patients and co ntrols. Emotional reactions to the story were also equivalent. The res ults suggest that the enhancement of declarative memory associated wit h emotional arousal is intact in amnesia. Together with findings from patients with bilateral amygdala lesions, the results indicate that th e amygdala is responsible for the enhancement effect.