Study finds brain state caused by experiences affects way you process future events

December 27, 2016

Researchers measured responses in the skin and brain after emotional stimuli
They found brain states tied to the emotional events lasted for 20-30 min after
People are better able to remember non-emotional events that happen after, too

Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com

Published:
13:10 EST, 27 December 2016

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Updated:
14:47 EST, 27 December 2016

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Emotional experiences can leave you in a ‘hangover’ state that lingers long after the event has ended, according to a new study.

And, an emotional hangover can even influence the way you process future experiences.

Measurements of skin conductance and brain activity revealed both physiological and internal brain states that persisted after emotion-evoking stimuli, and researchers say the findings ‘make clear’ that past experiences play a large role in cognition.

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Emotional experiences can leave you in a ‘hangover’ state that lingers long after the event has ended, according to a new study. And, an emotional hangover can even influence the way you process future experiences. A stock image is pictured

WHAT THEY FOUND

The researchers found that subjects who had been exposed to the emotional stimuli had better long-term recall of the neutral images they saw after.

‘We see that memory for non-emotional experiences is better if they are encountered after an emotional event,’ Davachi said.

The fMRI scans revealed that brain states associated with the emotional experiences lasted for roughly 20-30 minutes after the stimuli were removed.

The researchers say this induced state influenced the way the participants processed, and remembered, the future neutral experiences.

While it’s known that people tend to remember emotional experiences better than non-emotional ones, the researchers have now found that experiences that follow these emotional events are better remembered as well.

‘How we remember events is not just a consequence of the external world we experience, but is also strongly influenced by our internal states – and these internal states can persist and color future experience,’ said Lila Davachi, an associate professor in NYU’s department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science and senior author of the study.

”Emotion’ is a state of mind,’ the researcher explained.

‘These findings make clear that our cognition is highly influenced by preceding experiences and, specifically, that emotional brain states can persist for long periods of time.’

In the study, published to the journal Nature Neuroscience, scientists at New York University examined the lingering effects of emotional content.

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One group of participants was shown emotion-evoking stimuli, and 10-30 minutes later, some were shown a series of non-emotional scenes.

Another group was instead shown the non-emotional content first, followed by the emotion-evoking images.

The researchers measured skin conductance to track physiological arousal, and used fMRI to monitor brain activity.

While it’s known that people tend to remember emotional experiences better than non-emotional ones, the researchers have now found that events that follow these emotional events are better remembered as well. A stock image is pictured

Then, six hours later, the subjects were all given a memory test of the images they’d viewed.

The researchers found that subjects who had been exposed to the emotional stimuli had better long-term recall of the neutral images they saw after.

‘We see that memory for non-emotional experiences is better if they are encountered after an emotional event,’ Davachi said.

The fMRI scans revealed that brain states associated with the emotional experiences lasted for roughly 20-30 minutes after the stimuli were removed.

The researchers say this induced state influenced the way the participants processed, and remembered, the future neutral experiences.