Source of arousal and memory for detail

Two questions about the relationship between arousal and memory were invest igated: First, does the source of arousal influence memory, and, second, wh at impact does arousal have on memory for detail? In Experiment 1, physiolo gical arousal (running or not running in place) was factorially combined wi th emotional arousal (viewing a neutral or an emotional slide sequence). Re cognition memory was tested for gist, central detail, and background detail . Experiments 2 and 3 were similar to Experiment 1, with the exception that a cued recall task was used in Experiment 2 and physiological arousal was manipulated with stationary biking in Experiment 3. The results of these ex periments indicated that physiological arousal had little impact on memory and that emotional arousal led to improvements in memory for both central a nd background detail. Overall, these results supported the notions that the source of arousal is an important determinant of an event's memorability ( Christianson, 1992a) and that emotional arousal serves to enhance the scope of memory (i.e., flashbulb memory; Brown & Kulik, 1977).