My Patriotic Heart: Arousing National Crisis and Pride Selectively Enhancing Subsequent Memory Encoding 「open review」

Subjects: Psychology >> Experimental Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2024-04-20

ZHANG Xinyi TANG Wenxin HUANG Yitong ZHANG Mengxue WEN Bixuan LIU Wei

Abstract： Emotional arousal significantly enhances memory encoding processes, and this enhancement extends to subsequent memories within a defined temporal window. Nevertheless, extant research on the interplay between emotion and memory has predominantly concentrated on elementary emotional states such as happiness or fear. In contrast, the mechanisms by which complex emotions enhance memory encoding remain understudied. To address this gap, our study comprises three experimental investigations aimed at elucidating the selective impact of complex social emotions on subsequent memory encoding.
Our initial experiment (Experiment 1, N=152) employed a questionnaire to assess the motivation levels for learning Civics among participants, which laid the groundwork for further empirical inquiry. Subsequent experiments (Experiments 2 and 3, with a combined participant total of N=241) examined how arousal from complex social emotions—specifically, a sense of national crisis and national pride—selectively influences memory encoding. In Experiment 2, we adopted a between-subjects design, randomly assigning participants to three groups: crisis, pride, and neutral. These groups underwent sessions of emotional arousal followed by tasks involving the encoding and retrieval of Civics material. Experiment 3 replicated the procedure of Experiment 2 but shifted the focus of memory encoding to mathematical statistical learning.
The results revealed a lack of sufficient motivation among college students to learn Civics materials. Crucially, we found that arousal induced by feelings of national crisis and pride prior to memory encoding tasks selectively enhanced the encoding of Civics materials. Interestingly, this enhancement did not extend to the memorization of statistical data or images unrelated to national emotions. This outcome substantiates the hypothesis that arousal from national emotions selectively augments memory encoding of thematically relevant content.
By integrating questionnaire-based assessments, manipulations of social-emotional arousal, and a memory encoding-retrieval paradigm, our study demonstrates that complex social-emotional arousal markedly enhances the specificity of memory encoding. These findings significantly advance our understanding of the complex interrelations between social emotions and memory functions. Additionally, they provide empirical support for refining educational strategies in the domain of ideological and political education in higher education institutions.

Peer Review Status： NO

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