The adaptation of the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) for European Portuguese

This study presents the adaptation of the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW; Bradley & Lang, 1999a) for European Portuguese (EP). The EP adaptation of the ANEW was based on the affective ratings made by 958 college students who were EP native speakers. Participants assessed about 60 words by considering the affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance, using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) in either a paper-and-pencil and a web survey procedures. Results of the adaptation of the ANEW for EP are presented. Furthermore, the differences between EP, American (Bradley & Lang, 1999a), and Spanish (Redondo, Fraga, Padrón, & Comesaña, 2007) standardizations were explored. Results showed that the ANEW words were understood in a similar way by EP, American, and Spanish subjects, although some sex and cross-cultural differences were observed. The EP adaptation of the ANEW is shown to be a valid and useful tool that will allow researchers to control and/or manipulate the affective properties of stimuli as well as to develop cross-linguistic studies. The normative values of EP adaptation of the ANEW can be downloaded at http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de CompetitividadeFundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional - FEDERQuadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional - QRENFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - research project “Procura Palavras (P-Pal ): A software program for deriving objective and subjective psycholinguistic indices for European Portuguese words

Neural mechanisms underlying the effects of emotional arousal on memory

Emotional events (e.g., seeing a snake while hiking) typically stay in the memory longer and in more detail than neutral ones (e.g., seeing a bird while hik-ing). This emotion-induced memory enhancement has been attributed to the amyg-dala’s modulation on other brain regions, such as the medial temporal lobe and visual cortices. In line with this amygdala modulation hypothesis, previous brain imaging research revealed enhanced amygdala activity when encoding and retriev-ing emotional stimuli compared with non-emotional stimuli. However, emotion does not always enhance memory. Indeed, researchers have long been aware that emotion sometimes enhances and sometimes impairs memory. Yet, the underlying mechanisms of the opposing effects of emotion are relatively unknown. For example, if the amygdala’s modulation on other brain regions is critical in the emotion- memory interaction, how does it result in the enhancement effects for some aspects, while impairing other aspects of memory? In this chapter, we argue an alternative possibility: that norepinephrine released by the locus coeruleus under arousal plays a critical role in the complex effects of emotion on memory