1
Aim
To investigate the effect of cortisol on memory consolidation
2
Method
A double-blinded experiment with 48 participants
3
Procedures
- Participants were given 20mg of cortisol or a placebo
- Participants were then shown a variety of images with either pleasant scenes (nice food, mountain scenery), unpleasant scenes (disfigured people, threatening weapons), or neutral scenes (bicycle)
- Participants ranked how emotionally arousing they found the images
- One week later, participants memories of the images were tested
4
Results
Both groups remembered the emotionally arousing images better than neutral ones
The cortisol group remembered significantly more emotionally arousing images than the control group
5
Conclusion
Study suggests that the amygdala's interaction with the hypothalamus, causing the release of cortisol, plays an important role in consolidating emotional memory