Emotions, as one of the fundamental cognitive functions of humans, are the result of long-term adaptation during the process of human evolution. Research has shown that people tend to have more profound impressions of information that carries emotions. Emotions play an important role in individuals' information processing. Language serves as an important medium for emotional expression, and among many emotional stimuli, emotional words are crucial materials for conveying linguistic information and emotional stimuli. Therefore, they are essential materials for emotion research. With the progress of research, emotional words have been further categorized into emotional - label words and emotional load words. These two types of words express different levels of emotional intensity. Furthermore, although emotionally charged vocabulary is prioritized in information processing, it is also subject to constraints imposed by attentional resources. Attentional resources may have different effects on different types of vocabulary. The role of attentional resources in the memory processes for these two types of emotional words is still under exploration. Therefore, this study examined the differences in memory for emotional label words and emotional load words to better understand how emotions influence memory and to provide guidance for learning.
The number of participants was determined using G*Power 3.1 software based on effect size criteria used in previous studies. A total of 98 participants were involved in two experiments. The experimental procedure was programmed in E-Prime 2.0. In Experiment 1, attentional resources were obtained by setting different levels of interference from task-relevant words. Participants were required to memorize either 1 or 3 words simultaneously and to examine emotional label words and emotional load words of different valences under conditions of sufficient or limited attentional resources. A three-factor mixed design was employed: 2 (emotional word type: emotional label words, emotional load words) × 3 (valence: positive, neutral, negative) × 2 (task difficulty: easy, difficult). Emotional type and valence were internal variables of the participants, while task difficulty was an external variable. During the learning phase, participants were asked to memorize the words, and during the testing phase, they were asked to make old/new judgments. Reaction times and accuracy of word judgments were recorded.
The study found that under conditions of sufficient attentional resources (easy task), emotional label words showed faster reaction times and higher accuracy than emotional load words, with the recognition accuracy of positive emotional label words being higher than that of negative emotional label words. Under conditions of limited attentional resources (difficult task), there were no significant differences in reaction times or accuracy between emotional label words and emotional load words. Experiment 2, building on Experiment 1, further adjusted the level of attention by manipulating the presentation time of emotional stimuli during the learning phase and examined whether there were memory differences between emotional label words and emotional load words of different valence under two presentation conditions: above threshold and below threshold. The design consisted of 2 (emotional word type: emotional label words, emotional load words) × 3 (valence: positive, neutral, negative) × 2 (presentation time: 60ms, 500ms). Participants were required to memorize words during the learning phase and to make old/new judgments during the testing phase, with reaction times and accuracy of word judgments recorded.
The results showed that when words were presented above threshold, attentional resources were relatively abundant, and there were no significant differences in reaction times between emotional label words and emotional load words. Recognition accuracy was higher for emotional label words than for emotional load words, but there were no significant differences in recognition accuracy between positive emotional label words and negative emotional label words. When words were presented below threshold, attentional resources were relatively scarce, and although there were no significant differences in recognition accuracy between emotional label words and emotional load words, emotional load words showed faster reaction times than emotional label words, with positive emotional load words exhibiting faster reaction times than positive emotional label words.
This study identified a type effect of emotional words during the emotional information memory process, which was modulated by attentional resource levels. Specifically, under conditions of sufficient or relatively abundant attentional resources, emotional label words were better maintained in individual attention and memory compared to emotional load words, with individuals showing a preference for positive stimuli. Under conditions of limited or relatively scarce attentional resources, both emotional label words and emotional load words were affected, but the effect was more pronounced for emotional label words, with emotional load words showing faster processing than emotional label words.