The influence of positive and negative emotions on physiological responses and memory task scores

The present paper report results of a preliminary study devoted to investigate whether and how different induced emotional states influence physiological responses and memory task scores. Physiological responses, such as skin conductance (SCL) and heart rate (HR) values were measured from 32 university students, before, during and after they were elicited by video stimuli. The considered stimuli were able to induce positive, negative and neutral emotional states. The specific physiological activation patterns were identified and correlated with memory task scores, computed using the "Anna Pesenti" Story Recall Test (SRT). The results show significant changes in physiological values when positive (increase in HR values) and negative (increase in SCL values) emotional states are induced. Surprisingly, increased SCL values, associated to induced positive emotional states, affect the participant's memory task scores. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.