J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2014 Sep;53(5):293-298. 10.4306/jknpa.2014.53.5.293.

The Effect of Bilateral Eye Movements on Emotional Face Recognition Memory Task

• Lee NH
• Kim SJ
• Kim JW
• Im WY
• Kwon H
• Kim K
• Kim MY
• Lim S

• KMID: 2016565
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4306/jknpa.2014.53.5.293

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Previous studies have shown that bilateral eye movements enhance episodic memory retrieval. However, few studies on the effect of bilateral eye movements on emotional memory have been reported. Therefore, this study was conducted in order to investigate the differences in memory retrieval between neutral and angry stimuli after bilaterally alternating eye movements.
METHODS
Twenty seven healthy right-handed subjects participated in this study. The participants learned faces (angry or neutral face), and then performed a recognition memory task in relation to the faces after bilateral eye movements and central fixation. Recognition accuracy, response bias, and mean response time to hits were compared and analyzed. Two-way repeated measure analysis of variance was performed for statistical analysis.
RESULTS
There was a significant effect of bilateral eye movement conditions in recognition accuracy (F=13.833, p<0.01). Statistically significant interaction effects were observed between eye movement condition and face emotion type (F=6.253, p=0.02).
CONCLUSION
In this study, recognition memory for angry faces was more enhanced than that for neutral faces after bilateral eye movements. This finding suggests that bilateral eye movements can improve recognition memory for emotional stimuli more than that for neutral stimuli.

Keyword

Bilateral eye movement; Emotional memory; Recognition memory task

MeSH Terms

Bias (Epidemiology)
Eye Movements*
Memory*
Memory, Episodic
Reaction Time

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