Emotion impairs extrinsic source memory--An ERP study

Differentiating the DF effect in episodic memory: evaluating the contribution of the procedures of collaborative memory

Existing research has demonstrated a significant directed forgetting (DF) effect in memory. However, it remains unclear whether this phenomenon would occur in the context of interpersonal collaboration. Additionally, the contribution of emotional valence to the DF effect in item memory and source memory (which are subtypes of episodic memory) also needs to be explored. To address these issues, we conducted two experiments that combined the collaborative memory paradigm with the item-method procedure of DF. In both experiments, positive, neutral, or negative words were presented as stimuli, each followed by an R/F cue during encoding. We conducted two recalls, labeled Recall 1 and Recall 2, which consisted of both memory tasks. Recall 1 was performed either individually or collaboratively, whereas Recall 2 was done individually. Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 adopted the free-flowing procedure and the turn-taking procedure of collaborative memory, respectively. We obtained three implications from our current findings. (a) The occurrence of the DF effect in item memory was found regardless of the procedure of collaborative memory, and it was insensitive to the emotional valence of words or to whether participants had collaborated or not. These patterns demonstrate that both the mechanisms of elaborative rehearsal and active suppression/encoding blocking were engaged across words of different emotional valences and in nominal and collaborative circumstances. (b) In source memory, the DF effect showed different patterns in ongoing and post-collaborative memory, which underpins the dual-process models. (c) The amplitude of the DF effect was sensitive to the interaction of emotional valence by the status of collaboration, and the impact of collaboration differed between the two experiments, offering telling evidence of different aspects of the retrieval strategy disruption hypothesis (RSDH). Directions for identifying more influential factors are put forward.

Effects of congruent emotional contexts during encoding on recognition: An ERPs study

Past research showed that emotional contexts can impair recognition memory for the target item. Given that item-context congruity may enhance recognition memory, the present study aims to examine the effect of the congruent emotional encoding contexts on recognition memory. Participants studied congruent word-picture pairs (e.g., the word "cow" - a picture describing a cow) and incongruent word-picture pairs (e.g., the word "cow" - a picture describing a goat) and, subsequently, were asked to report the nature of the picture (emotional or neutral). Behavioral results revealed that emotional contexts impaired source but not item recognition, with congruent word-context mitigating this impairment and enhancing item recognition. Neural results from ERPs and theta oscillations found the recollection process, as shown by the LPC old/new effect and theta oscillations, for both item and source recognition across emotional contexts, irrespective of congruity. Meanwhile, the familiarity process as indexed by the FN400 old/new effect was found only for item recognition in congruent emotional contexts. These findings suggest that the congruent relationship of item-context could mitigate the emotion-induced source memory impairment and enhance item memory, with neural results elucidating the memory processes involved in retrieval of emotional information. Specifically, while emotion-related information generally elicits the recollection-based memory process, only congruent emotional information elicits the familiarity-based process.

A meta-analysis of event-related potential correlates of recognition memory

A longstanding question in memory research is whether recognition is supported by more than one mnemonic process. Dual-process models distinguish recollection of episodic detail from familiarity, while single-process models explain recognition in terms of one process that varies in strength. Dual process models have drawn support from findings that recollection and familiarity elicit distinct electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs): a mid-frontal ERP effect that occurs at around 300-500 ms post-stimulus onset and is often larger for familiarity than recollection contrasts, and a parietal ERP effect that occurs at around 500-800 ms and is larger for recollection than familiarity contrasts. We sought to adjudicate between dual- and single-process models by investigating whether the dissociation between these two ERP effects is reliable over studies. We extracted effect sizes from 41 experiments that had used Remember-Know, source memory, and associative memory paradigms (1,000 participants). Meta-analysis revealed a strong interaction between ERP effect and mnemonic process of the form predicted by dual-process models. Although neither ERP effect was significantly process-selective taken alone, a moderator analysis revealed a larger mid-frontal effect for familiarity than recollection contrasts in studies using the Remember-Know paradigm. Mega-analysis of raw data from six studies further showed significant process-selectivity for both mid-frontal and parietal ERPs in the predicted time windows. On balance, the findings favor dual- over single-process theories of recognition memory, but point to a need to promote sharing of raw data.

Emotional autobiographical memory retrieval in time domain

Autobiographical memory (AM) is an important psychological phenomenon that has significance for self-development and mental health. The psychological mechanisms of emotional AM retrieval and their association with individual emotional symptoms remain largely unclear in the literature. For this purpose, the current study provided cue words to elicit emotional AMs. Event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with the retrieval process of AMs were recorded and analyzed. We found that the ERP component N400 was sensitive to both emotional valence and retrieval state, such that its amplitude was larger for negative compared to positive AMs, and larger responses for unrecalled compared to recalled AMs. Further, the N400 amplitude in the positive recalled condition was correlated with individual difference in depression (measured by the Beck Depression Inventory). Another ERP component, the late positive potential (LPP), was also sensitive to emotional valence, such that its amplitude was larger (i.e., more positive-going) for positive compared to negative cues. No significant effect was observed on the early ERP components P1, N1, or P2. The current findings bring new understanding on the difference between positive and negative AMs retrieval in the time domain. Also, the importance of this difference to the individual level of depression is worth noting.

Does Expecting Matter? The Impact of Experimentally Established Expectations on Subsequent Memory Retrieval of Emotional Words

Previous studies have confirmed that different degrees of expectation, including the bipolarity of the expected and unexpected, as well as an intermediate level (no expectation), can affect memory. However, only a few investigations have manipulated expectation through experimentally established schema, with no consideration of how expectation impacts both item and source memory. Furthermore, stimulus emotionality may also impact memory. Therefore, we conducted a study to investigate the effects of three levels of expectation on item and source memory while considering the impact of stimulus emotionality. The experiment began with a phase dedicated to learning the rules. In the subsequent study phase, negative and neutral words were manipulated as expected, no expectation, and unexpected, based on these rules. This was followed by tasks focused on item and source memory. The study found that there was a "U-shape" relationship between expectation and item memory. Additionally, the study revealed the distinct impacts of expectation on item and source memory. When it came to item memory, both expected and unexpected words were better remembered than those with no expectations. In source memory, expected words showed memory inferiority for expectation-irrelevant source information, but an advantage for expectation-relevant source information. Stimulus emotionality modulated the effect of expectation on both item and source memory. Our findings provide behavioral evidence for the schema-linked interactions between medial prefrontal and medial temporal regions (SLIMM) theory, which proposes that congruent and incongruent events enhance memory through different brain regions. The different patterns between item and source memory also support dual-process models. Moreover, we speculate that processing events with varying levels of emotionality may undermine the impact of expectation, as implied by other neural investigations.

Sensitivity of late ERP old/new effects in source memory to self-referential encoding focus and stimulus emotionality

In episodic memory, the old/new effect, the contrast of the waveforms elicited by the correctly recognized studied items and the correctly rejected novel items, has been broadly concerned. However, the contribution of self-referential encoding to the old/new effect in source memory (i.e., source-SRE), is far from clarification; further, it remains unclear whether the contribution is susceptible to the factor of stimulus emotionality. To address these issues, adopting the event-related potential (ERP) technique, this study applied words of three types of emotional valences (positive, neutral, vs. negative) in the self-focus vs. external-focus encoding tasks. In the course of the test, four ERP old/new effects were identified: (a) the familiarity- and recollection-reflected mid-frontal effect (FN400) and late positive component (LPC) were both independent of source-SRE and stimulus emotionality; (b) the reconstruction-driven late posterior negativity (LPN) exhibited an adverse pattern of source-SRE and was susceptible to the emotional valence by encoding focus; and (c) the right frontal old/new effect (RFE), reflecting post-retrieval process, exhibited a source-SRE in emotional words. These effects provide compelling evidence for the influences of both stimulus valence and encoding focus on SRE in source memory, especially during the late processes. Further directions considering more perspectives are put forward.

Effect of retrieval reward on episodic recognition with different difficulty: ERP evidence

Previous studies found that the reward effect is stronger in more difficult retrieval tasks of item memory. However, it remains unclear whether the effect of reward is influenced by the memory task difficulty level in the source memory. We investigated the effects and neural mechanisms of the processing depth during encoding and rewards at retrieval on the item and source memory using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants were required to carry out the congruity-judgment (deep processing) and size-judgment (shallow processing) tasks during encoding, and they completed separate object and background tests (half presented with reward) immediately after encoding. The results revealed that congruity-judgment (compare to size-judgment) task had longer response time in encoding phase, and evoked significantly greater reward differences at Prs (the hit rate minus the false alarm rate) in item retrieval, and the reward (relative to no reward) significantly improved recognition accuracy in source retrieval. ERP results also showed that congruity-judgment (compare to size-judgment) task evoked the larger N170, P3a, LPP and a decreased P3b of the stimuli in encoding phase, and elicited the wider distribution of LPC and LPN reward effects (i.e., the average amplitudes under the reward condition were significantly more positive than under the non-reward condition) in item retrieval, and the reward effects at FN400, LPC, and LPN were found only in the congruity-judged items with optimal difficulty in source retrieval. The results suggest that reward at retrieval evoked a greater boost in the congruity-judged stimuli, whether in item or source retrieval, which maybe be related to their optimal retrieval difficulty (Pr is closer to medium 0.50). This meant that the reward is more effective in memory retrieval with optimal difficulty.

Effects of emotion and semantic relatedness on recognition memory: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

Some aspects of our memory are enhanced by emotion, whereas others can be unaffected or even hindered. Previous studies reported impaired associative memory of emotional content, an effect termed associative "emotional interference". The current study used EEG and an associative recognition paradigm to investigate the cognitive and neural mechanisms associated with this effect. In two experiments, participants studied negative and neutral stimulus-pairs that were either semantically related or unrelated. In Experiment 1 emotions were relevant to the encoding task (valence judgment) whereas in Experiment 2 emotions were irrelevant (familiarity judgment). In a subsequent associative recognition test, EEG was recorded while participants discriminated between intact, rearranged, and new pairs. An associative emotional interference effect was observed in both experiments, but was attenuated for semantically related pairs in Experiment 1, where valence was relevant to the task. Moreover, a modulation of an early associative memory ERP component (300-550 ms) occurred for negative pairs when valence was task-relevant (Experiment 1), but for semantically related pairs when valence was irrelevant (Experiment 2). A later ERP component (550-800 ms) showed a more general pattern, and was observed in all experimental conditions. These results suggest that both valence and semantic relations can act as an organizing principle that promotes associative binding. Their ability to contribute to successful retrieval depends on specific task demands.

Encoding tasks moderated the reward effect on brain activity during memory retrieval

Previous studies have explored the effects of retrieval reward and depth of processing in encoding on recognition, but it remains unclear whether and how reward and depth of processing during encoding influence recognition. We investigated the effect and neural mechanisms of encoding reward and processing depth on recognition using event-related potentials (ERPs) in this study. In the study phase, participants were asked to perform two encoding tasks: congruity-judgment (deep processing) and size-judgment (shallow processing) in reward and no-reward conditions. The test phases included object (item) and background (source) tests. The results of item retrieval showed that the accuracy of rewarded items was higher than that of unrewarded items only in the congruity-judgment task, and the reward effect (the average amplitudes in the reward condition were significantly more positive than those in the no-reward condition) in the 300–500 and 500–700 ms were greater in the congruity-judgment task than in the size-judgment task. The results of source retrieval showed that the accuracy of rewarded items was higher than that of unrewarded items, that the difference in the size-judgment task was significantly larger, and that the reward effect in the 300–500 and 500–700 ms were greater in the size-judgment task than in the congruity-judgment task. In conclusion, the encoding task moderated the reward effect in item and source memory.

Effect of the congruity of emotional contexts at encoding on source memory: Evidence from ERPs

Emotion's influence on source memory has proven more elusive and the lack of studies investigates the effect of the congruent emotional contexts on source memory. Here, we investigated these issues using event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess emotional-induced neural correlates. During encoding, congruent word-picture (a word 'shoes' - a picture described shoes) and incongruent word-picture (a word 'pepper' - a picture described shoes) with a prompt (Common? or Natural?) were presented. At retrieval, participants indicated which prompts were concomitantly presented with the word during encoding. Behavioral results revealed that source memory accuracy was enhanced in the neutral contexts compared to the negative contexts, and enhanced in the incongruent condition relative to the congruent condition, suggesting that emotional contexts impaired source memory performance, and incongruent information enhanced source memory. ERPs results showed that early P2 old/new effect (150-250 ms) and FN400 old/new effect (300-450 ms) were observed for words with correct source that had been encoded in the congruent emotional contexts, and that a larger parietal old/new effect, between 500 and 700 ms, was observed for words with correct source that had been encoded in the incongruent condition than in the congruent condition, irrespective the nature of context. The ERPs results indicate that retrieval of source details for the associated emotionally congruent information supports the idea that emotional events could attract more attentional resources, and reflects the contribution of familiarity-based process. Meanwhile, retrieval of source details for the associated incongruent information reflects a stronger contribution of recollection-based process.

Effects of emotional study context on immediate and delayed recognition memory: Evidence from event-related potentials

Whilst research has largely focused on the recognition of emotional items, emotion may be a more subtle part of our surroundings and conveyed by context rather than by items. Using ERPs, we investigated which effects an arousing context during encoding may have for item-context binding and subsequent familiarity-based and recollection-based item-memory. It has been suggested that arousal could facilitate item-context bindings and by this enhance the contribution of recollection to subsequent memory judgements. Alternatively, arousal could shift attention onto central features of a scene and by this foster unitisation during encoding. This could boost the contribution of familiarity to remembering. Participants learnt neutral objects paired with ecologically highly valid emotional faces whose names later served as neutral cues during an immediate and delayed test phase. Participants identified objects faster when they had originally been studied together with emotional context faces. Items with both neutral and emotional context elicited an early frontal ERP old/new difference (200-400 ms). Neither the neurophysiological correlate for familiarity nor recollection were specific to emotionality. For the ERP correlate of recollection, we found an interaction between stimulus type and day, suggesting that this measure decreased to a larger extend on Day 2 compared with Day 1. However, we did not find direct evidence for delayed forgetting of items encoded in emotional contexts at Day 2. Emotion at encoding might make retrieval of items with emotional context more readily accessible, but we found no significant evidence that emotional context either facilitated familiarity-based or recollection-based item-memory after a delay of 24 h.

Sleep Deprivation Impairs Binding of Information with Its Context

Binding information to its context in long-term memory is critical for many tasks, including memory tasks and decision making. Failure to associate information to its context could be an important aspect of sleep deprivation effects on cognition, but little is known about binding problems from being sleep-deprived at the time of encoding. We studied how sleep deprivation affects binding using a well-established paradigm testing the ability to remember auditorily presented words (items) and their speakers (source context). In a laboratory study, 68 healthy young adults were randomly assigned to total sleep deprivation or a well-rested control condition. Participants completed an affective item and source memory task twice: once after 7h awake during baseline and again 24h later, after nearly 31h awake in the total sleep deprivation condition or 7h awake in the control condition. Participants listened to negative, positive, and neutral words presented by a male or female speaker and were immediately tested for recognition of the words and their respective speakers. Recognition of items declined during sleep deprivation, but even when items were recognized accurately, recognition of their associated sources also declined. Negative items were less bound with their sources than positive or neutral items,but sleep deprivation did not significantly affect this pattern.Our findings indicate that learning while sleep-deprived disrupts the binding of information to its context independent of item valence. Such binding failures may contribute to sleep deprivation effects on tasks requiring the ability to bind new information together in memory.

Interactions of Emotion and Self-reference in Source Memory: An ERP Study

The way emotional information is encoded (e.g., deciding whether it is self-related or not) has been found to affect source memory. However, few studies have addressed how the emotional quality and self-referential properties of a stimulus interactively modulate brain responses during stimulus encoding and source memory recognition. In the current study, 22 participants completed five study-test cycles with negative, neutral, and positive words encoded in self-referential versus non-self-referential conditions, while event-related potentials of the electroencephalogram were recorded. An advantage of self-referential processing in source memory performance, reflected in increased recognition accuracy, was shown for neutral and positive words. At the electrophysiological level, self-referential words elicited increased amplitudes in later processing stages during encoding (700-1,200 ms) and were associated with the emergence of old/new effects in the 300-500 ms latency window linked to familiarity effects. In the 500-800 ms latency window, old/new effects emerged for all valence conditions except for negative words studied in the non-self-referential condition. Negative self-referential words also elicited a greater mobilization of post-retrieval monitoring processes, reflected in an enhanced mean amplitude in the 800-1,200 ms latency window. Together, the current findings suggest that valence and self-reference interactively modulate source memory. Specifically, negative self-related information is more likely to interfere with the recollection of source memory features.

Is color source retrieval sensitive to emotion? Electrophysiological evidence from old/new effects

It has been proved that item memory and source memory are two dissociable processes, as reflected by differential influence at behavioral and electrophysiological levels, the latter being evidenced by the ERP old/new effects. Specially for source memory, the retrieval of color source may be unique from recollecting other types of contextual information, which can be seen from the late posterior negativity (LPN). However, the mediation of emotional valence on the old/new effects for verbal stimuli encoded in colors remains unknown. Adopting words of three emotional valences (i.e., positive, neutral, and negative), with their displayed colors serving as sources, the current experiment aimed to explore the sensitivity of old/new effects to emotion for both item memory and source memory. Results demonstrated that: the FN400 that reflects familiarity was recorded and it was sensitive to emotional valence across both memory tasks; the mediation of emotional valence was absent in recollection-reflected LPC, neither for item memory nor for source memory; an association between LPN and color source retrieval was confirmed, with reliable amplitudes for neutral words but not for emotional words. These data were discussed in terms of the dual-process model and other accounts. Future research directions were recommended.

The basolateral amygdala regulation of complex cognitive behaviours in the five-choice serial reaction time task

RATIONALE

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) plays important roles in the cognitive control in human and non-human animals. However, inconsistent findings between species have been observed and there have been relatively few detailed investigations of the cognitive properties of BLA, especially in mice.

OBJECTIVE

Our aim was to determine the role of BLA in cognition by using optogenetic manipulations.

METHODS

Male C57BL/six mice were trained and tested on the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), open-field test (OFT), elevated plus maze (EPM), Y-maze, and novel object recognition (NOR) test during optogenetic stimulation and inhibition of the BLA.

RESULTS

Optogenetic activation of the BLA decreased the impulsivity and increased the compulsivity of mice, whereas optogenetic inhibition of BLA had the opposite effect. Similarly, anxiety-like behaviours and spatial working memory were increased in BLA activation mice, whereas BLA inhibition decreased these behaviours. However, both BLA activation and inhibition decreased the motivation of the mice.

CONCLUSIONS

These data demonstrate that the BLA regulates impulsive action and spatial working memory, and plays a critical role in anxiety-like behaviours.

How do word frequency and memory task influence directed forgetting: An ERP study

In daily life, it is important either to remember sometimes or to intentionally forget on other occasions. The issue of forgetting following instructions (i.e. directed forgetting, DF) has been broadly studied; however, whether the frequency of contents would matter in DF remains unclear, and the understanding of its neural mechanism in both circumstances of item memory and source memory requires improvement in depth. For these purposes, the current study manipulated word frequency and memory task to investigate relevant behavioral features and neural activities of DF. Adopting event-related potential (ERP) technique, this study applied two-character Chinese words of two types of word frequency (high vs low) in the item-method DF paradigm. During encoding, we found that the increased frontal positivity, an index of active inhibition, was regulated by both word frequency and memory task, while the enhanced parietal positivity reflecting selective rehearsal didn't fluctuate across conditions. In the course of test, three ERP old/new effects were identified: the familiarity-based FN400 and the recollection-driven LPC were both modulated by word frequency and memory task, but the right frontal old/new effect was significant solely in source memory; also, these effects provided compelling evidence for the influences of word frequency and memory task on DF. Our results reinforce the differentiation between absolute familiarity and relative familiarity in memory, reveal their sensitivity to DF, and also support the dual-process interpretation. Implications are made to examine more influential factors for future research.

Differential Effects of Valence and Encoding Strategy on Internal Source Memory and Judgments of Source: Exploring the Production and the Self-Reference Effect

Item memory studies show that emotional stimuli are associated with improved memory performance compared to neutral ones. However, emotion-related effects on source memory are less consistent. The current study probed how emotional valence and specific encoding conditions influence internal source memory performance and judgments of source (JOSs). In two independent experiments, participants were required to read silently/aloud (Experiment 1) or to perform self-reference/common judgments (Experiment 2) on a list of negative/neutral/positive words. They also performed immediate JOSs ratings for each word. The study phase was followed by a test phase in which participants performed old-new judgments. In Experiment 1, the production effect was replicated for item memory, but the effects of valence on item and source memory were not significant. In Experiment 2, self-referential processing effects on item and source memory differed as a function of valence. In both experiments, JOSs ratings were sensitive to valence and encoding conditions, although they were not predictive of objective memory performance. These findings demonstrate that the effects of valence on internal source memory and JOSs are modulated by encoding strategy. Thus, the way information is encoded can shed light on how emotion might enhance, impair or exert no influence on source memory.

NEVER forget: negative emotional valence enhances recapitulation

A hallmark feature of episodic memory is that of "mental time travel," whereby an individual feels they have returned to a prior moment in time. Cognitive and behavioral neuroscience methods have revealed a neurobiological counterpart: Successful retrieval often is associated with reactivation of a prior brain state. We review the emerging literature on memory reactivation and recapitulation, and we describe evidence for the effects of emotion on these processes. Based on this review, we propose a new model: Negative Emotional Valence Enhances Recapitulation (NEVER). This model diverges from existing models of emotional memory in three key ways. First, it underscores the effects of emotion during retrieval. Second, it stresses the importance of sensory processing to emotional memory. Third, it emphasizes how emotional valence - whether an event is negative or positive - affects the way that information is remembered. The model specifically proposes that, as compared to positive events, negative events both trigger increased encoding of sensory detail and elicit a closer resemblance between the sensory encoding signature and the sensory retrieval signature. The model also proposes that negative valence enhances the reactivation and storage of sensory details over offline periods, leading to a greater divergence between the sensory recapitulation of negative and positive memories over time. Importantly, the model proposes that these valence-based differences occur even when events are equated for arousal, thus rendering an exclusively arousal-based theory of emotional memory insufficient. We conclude by discussing implications of the model and suggesting directions for future research to test the tenets of the model.

Emotional Content and Source Memory for Language: Impairment in an Incidental Encoding Task

Research into the effects of emotion on source memory (i.e., memory for certain contextual details of a stimulus, such as its location, color, or temporal context) has yielded inconsistent findings. Mather and her co-workers tried to account for such inconsistencies by pointing out the relevance of the characteristics of the feature examined. Specifically, they distinguished between intrinsic and extrinsic features (Mather, 2007) and between goal-relevant and goal-irrelevant information (Mather and Sutherland, 2011). In the current study, we investigated source memory for language, which is an intrinsic feature or words. Catalan-Spanish bilinguals were tested in three experiments involving a recognition task in which they were asked about the language of presentation (Catalan or Spanish) of emotional and neutral words. In Experiments 1 and 2, source memory for negative and neutral words was assessed. In Experiment 1 participants performed an intentional encoding task in which language was a goal-relevant feature. In Experiment 2, they did an incidental encoding task in which language was also goal-relevant. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 but negative words were replaced by positive words. The results showed an impairment in source memory for the language of presentation of emotional words when the encoding task was incidental, but not when it was intentional. Such impairment was observed with both negative words and positive words. The results are discussed in relation to the proposals of Mather and co-workers and point to the relevance of modulating factors, such as the intentional/incidental nature of encoding.

Modulating Effects of Contextual Emotions on the Neural Plasticity Induced by Word Learning

Recently, numerous studies have investigated the neurocognitive mechanism of learning words in isolation or in semantic contexts. However, emotion as an important influencing factor on novel word learning has not been fully considered in the previous studies. In addition, the effects of emotion on word learning and the underlying neural mechanism have not been systematically investigated. Sixteen participants were trained to learn novel concrete or abstract words under negative, neutral, and positive contextual emotions over 3 days; then, fMRI scanning was done during the testing sessions on day 1 and day 3. We compared the brain activations in day 1 and day 3 to investigate the role of contextual emotions in learning different types of words and the corresponding neural plasticity changes. Behaviorally, the performance of the words learned in the negative context was lower than those in the neutral and positive contexts, which indicated that contextual emotions had a significant impact on novel word learning. Correspondingly, the functional plasticity changes of the right angular gyrus (AG), bilateral insula, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) induced by word learning were modulated by the contextual emotions. The insula also was sensitive to the concreteness of the learned words. More importantly, the functional plasticity changes of the left inferior frontal gyrus (left IFG) and left fusiform gyrus (left FG) were interactively influenced by the contextual emotions and concreteness, suggesting that the contextual emotional information had a discriminable effect on different types of words in the neural mechanism level. These results demonstrate that emotional information in contexts is inevitably involved in word learning. The role of contextual emotions in brain plasticity for learning is discussed.