Scientists from New York University described how emotional experiences can trigger certain brain states that persist long after an exciting event ends.
Experts call this condition "emotional hangover" because of the similarity to the symptoms of alcohol poisoning. Scientists conducted an experiment in which volunteers looked at images that evoke certain emotions and arousal. In 10-30 minutes after that, the specialists showed one group several emotionless pictures, and the second - first ordinary pictures, and then - emotionally colored ones.
After that, the participants in the experiment had an MRI, and six hours later they were invited to take a memory test based on the images that were shown earlier.
According to the results of the experiment, it turned out that the participants in the first group perfectly remembered the unemotional images and showed better results than the members of the second group. This suggests that the conditions that arose in the brain after processing emotional pictures negatively affected the memorization of other images for 20-30 minutes. Thus, unemotional experiences are better remembered if they occur after events that cause strong emotions.
Volkomurova Anna
