HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 2, 2012 – Dr. Kimberly Wear, associate professor of Psychology, recently presented results from a series of studies examining the effects of emotional arousal on memory at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, the national conference in cognitive psychology. The event was held in Seattle.
Wear’s presentation, titled “The Fate of Neutral Words Surrounding Emotionally Arousing Oddballs,” examined the effects of emotionally charged words, both pleasant and unpleasant, on memory for neutral words presented just prior to or immediately following the emotional material.
“This research expanded on research presented the previous year examining the effects of emotional images,” Wear explains. “The series of studies demonstrated that words and images presented one or two items before or after emotionally arousing words and images reduces the memory for the neutral information. These results suggest that individuals retain emotionally arousing information at the expense of neutral information, even if critically related, which has implications for eyewitness scenarios.”
HPU seniors Robin Fain, Melissa Schmidt and Virginia Carter all worked on the emotional arousal project and attended the conference with Wear, which allowed them to be exposed to the most current field of cognitive psychology.
“Each of the students had recently taken a course in human memory. In the course we discuss all the different types of memory and different factors that can affect them. And at the conference, they were able to see research within these particular topics,” Wear says. “Attending the conference enabled them to see their project through to the end.”
Wear says that the research she and students completed ties back to the classroom and is in fact very similar to topics discussed in class.
“What we teach in psychology always goes back to what the research has shown, whether we are discussing a theory for how a particular component of memory works or where in the brain the processing occurs,” Wear says. “Research is a critical component of the discipline.”
At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people.℠ HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with over 4,200 undergraduate and graduate students at campuses in High Point and Winston-Salem. It is ranked by US News and World Report at No. 3 among Regional Colleges in the South. Parade Magazine lists HPU in the top 25 private schools in the nation. HPU was selected in the 2010-2011 list of “Colleges of Distinction,” as well as one of the top green schools in the country by the Sierra Club. The university offers 44 undergraduate majors, 40 undergraduate minors and 10 graduate degree programs. It is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the Web at highpoint.edu.
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Pam Haynes
Communication Specialist
336-841-9055
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