情緒記憶比中性記憶更持久、生動與詳盡。已有許多行為、神經心理以及神經造影研究探討使情緒記憶不同於其他記憶的運作歷程與神經機制。這些研究大多數聚焦於情緒記憶的編碼和固化。然而，記憶的運作也依賴成功合宜的提取歷程，如果缺少情緒記憶提取歷程的研究，對於情緒記憶的理解將是不完整的。記憶提取的成功與否決定於個體如何處理提取的線索，已有許多研究顯示個體會經由「提取導向」的運作，依據提取目標的不同性質改變對於提取線索的處理方式，藉以最大化提取成功的機會，而提取導向也使各體能透過「策略性提取」避免無關訊息的干擾。過去的研究已藉由操弄編碼方式與材料類型等方式獲得「提取導向」與「策略性提取」的支持證據，但是迄今仍未有研究直接探討對於情緒記憶提取導向」與「策略性提取」的運作與機制。本計畫的目的為利用事件相關腦電位實驗探討情緒記憶的「提取導向」與「策略性提取」。在五個實驗中，我們將會藉由將中性物體放置於中性、負向、正向背景圖片中的方式產生不同情緒性的記憶，而這些背景圖片將不會在再認記憶測試時出現，藉以避免來自記憶提取時出現情緒性刺激的干擾。這五個實驗將利用這個方式探討以下議題：（1）情緒記憶和中性記憶在提取導向的處理上是否會有所不同？（2）情緒記憶的提取導向效應能否在喚醒和價性之間分離？（3）學習與測試之間的延宕如何改變調節中性與情感記憶的提取導向？ （4）對於不同的情感價性的記憶的策略性提取是否會有所不同？（5）情緒記憶的提取導向效應是否可以分解為持續與短暫的活動。藉由本計劃的實施將可從行為以及神經生理的角度了解此情緒與記憶提取間的交互作用，對於人類基本認知運作以及其神經機制的了解都將會有重要貢獻，並且也可作為未來關於情緒相關疾患的記憶功能研究奠定基礎。 ;Emotional memories are more durable, vivid, detailed than neutral memories. Many behavioral, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging studies have examined the cognitive operations and neural mechanisms that make emotional memories different from other types of memories. Most of these studies focused on the encoding and consolidation of emotional memory. Nevertheless, the functionality of memory also relies on retrieval. The understanding of emotional memory would be incomplete without the investigation of its retrieval processes. The success of retrieval is contingent on how a retrieval cue is processed prior to its interaction with the targeted memory traces. The processing of a retrieval cue could be varied in a pre-retrieval operation, referred to as “retrieval orientation”, to optimize the compatibility between the cue and the memory trace. A benefit of adopting a specific retrieval orientation is to prevent the retrieval of irrelevant information through strategical recollection. Evidence for retrieval orientation has been reported in studies that manipulated various kinds of mnemonic variables including encoding modalities, material types, and encoding tasks, reflecting the flexibility of retrieval cue processing. However, very few studies examined the modulation of emotion on the processing of the retrieval cues and the control of recollection. The current study aims to employ event-related brain potential (ERP) experiments to examine the retrieval orientation and strategical retrieval of emotional memory, focusing on the correct rejection trials when participants are prompted to retrieve emotionally valenced and neutral memories. The emotional memories will be generated by presenting emotionally neutral to-be-remembered items in neutral, positive, or negative encoding contexts. In the following recognition test, only neutral testing items are presented so that there will be no contamination of emotional effects from valenced stimuli presented during retrieval. Five experiments are proposed to investigate (1) whether the processing of the retrieval cues would be different between emotional and neutral memories; (2) whether the retrieval orientation effects for emotional memories could be dissociated between arousal and valence; (3) whether the study-test delay modulates retrieval orientation of neutral and emotional memories; (4) whether memories of different emotional valences are of different extents to be strategically retrieved; and (5) whether the retrieval orientation effect of emotional memory could be dissociated into sustained and transient activities.It is expected that the experiments proposed here will advance our understanding of the interaction between the memory and emotion from both the perspectives of cognitive and neurophysiological operations. It is also anticipated that the findings will lay the groundwork for future studies of memory and mood disorders.
