When emotions are not allowed to be expressed, memory has been shown to be negatively affected, according to a recent study conducted on female undergraduates by researchers at Stanford University. Students were shown slides of persons with varying degrees physical injury and asked to either react normally or show no emotional reaction. Results were consistent regardless of severity of injury displayed. Whether emotions are mild or very powerful, suppressing emotions impairs cognition, especially short-term recall. Although emotion suppression does cause cardiovascular changes, these are not thought to be responsible for the effect suppression has on short-term memory. From the results of their study published in The Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Drs. Jane Richards and James Gross propose that memory is impaired due to an attentional shift in the brain during emotion suppression, which directs neurological resources away from memory-processing. More research is needed, however, before the exact cause of lapses in memory during emotion suppression can be understood.
Compliments of Practical Memory Institute
