Is internal source memory recognition modulated by emotional encoding contexts?

The influence of emotion on memory has been mainly examined by manipulating the emotional valence and/or arousal of critical items. Few studies probed how emotional information presented during the encoding of critical neutral items modulates memory recognition, particularly when considering source memory features. In this study, we specified the role of emotional encoding contexts in internal source memory performance (discrimination between encoding tasks) using a mixed (Experiment 1) and a blocked design (Experiment 2). During the study phase, participants were required to evaluate a set of neutral words, using either a self-referential or a semantic (common judgment) encoding strategy. Prior and concomitantly with each word, negative, neutral or positive pictures were presented in the background. The beneficial effect of self-referential encoding was observed for both item and internal source memory in both experiments. Remarkably, item and internal source memory recognition was not modulated by emotion, even though a secondary analysis indicated that the consistent exposure to negative (vs. positive) information led to worse source memory performance. These findings suggest that internal source memory of neutral items is not always affected by changing or repetitive emotional encoding contexts.- This work was supported by a PhD Fellowship (PD/BD/105964/2014), awarded to DRP, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through national funds and co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) through the Operational Programme for Human Capital (POCH). It was also supported by a research grant (PTDC/MHC-PCN/0101/2014) funded by FCT and awarded to APP. The study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), University of Minho, supported by FCT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019) through national funds (PIDDAC) and co-funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). The authors would like to acknowledge all the participants for their valuable contribution to the current study