To demonstrate that images causing high arousal levels will be remembered better than those that are less emotive.

fMRI machine (functional magnetic resonance imaging) which detects changes in blood flow in the brain to illustrate how the brain works during different tasks.

Structural scans take detailed pictures of the structure of the brain

Laboratory

Why

The independent variable was can be seen as the intensity of the emotional arousal to each of the 96 scenes that were presented to each participant.

Dependent Variable

Extravenous variables

Ten right-handed healthy female volunteers were scanned

Females were chosen in this study because it was thought that they are more likely to report intense emotional experiences and show more physiological reactions to the stimuli

Informed consent was collected from the participants and they were informed about the aim of the experiment.

The individuals who were operating the fMRI scanner were fully trained and competent in the safety arrangements that should be followed during a medical scan

All of the 96 scenes were from the ‘International Aff ective Picture System’ stimuli set. For the scenes used in this study, average ratings for valence ranged from 1.17 (highly negative) to 5.44 (neutral).

picture presented for a period of 2.88 seconds

interval of 12.96 seconds between two pictures in during which a fixed crossed was projected

There is an association with the perceived emotional intensity of stimuli and the memory of it – the higher valance a picture has, the more likely it is to be remembered