Arousal - Arousal and Memory

Arousal and Memory

Arousal is involved in the detection, retention, and retrieval of information in the memory process. Emotionally arousing information can lead to better memory encoding, therefore influencing better retention and retrieval of information. Arousal is related to selective attention during the encoding process by showing that people are more subject to encode arousing information than neutral information. The selectivity of encoding arousing stimuli produces better long-term memory results than the encoding of neutral stimuli . In other words, the retention and accumulation of information is strengthened when exposed to arousing events or information. Arousing information is also retrieved or remembered more vividly and accurately .
Although arousal improves memory under most circumstances, there are some considerations. Arousal at learning is associated more with long-term recall and retrieval of information than short-term recall of information. For example, one study found that people could remember arousing words better after one week of learning them than merely two minutes after learning them . Another study found that arousal affects the memory of people in different ways. Hans Eysenck found an association between memory and the arousal of introverts versus extroverts. Higher levels of arousal increased the amount of words retrieved by extroverts and decreased the amount of words retrieved by introverts .