Effect of emotion on hippocampal-dependent associative binding through the lens of the weather prediction task.

Emilie de Montpellier, Hannah Bernhard, Richard Henson, Thomas G W McConnell, Deborah Talmi

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Emilie de MontpellierDepartment of Psychology, Downing Site, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.

Hannah BernhardDepartment of Psychology, Downing Site, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.

Richard HensonMRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Thomas G W McConnellDepartment of Psychology, Downing Site, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.ORCID 0009-0001-1798-9324

Deborah TalmiDepartment of Psychology, Downing Site, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK. dt492@cam.ac.uk.

Funding

Economic and Social Research Council ES/X005240/1Medical Research Council MR N013433-1

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We investigated the impact of negative emotion on hippocampal-dependent associative memory through the "weather prediction task," which distinguishes between hippocampal (declarative) and striatal (procedural) memory systems. This was achieved by comparing the "paired-associates" condition, where participants memorise associations between cues and outcomes, with the "feedback" condition, where they learn these associations through trial-and-error. Based on the dual representation theory, we hypothesized that negative emotion would selectively impair hippocampal-dependent memory but instead found substantial evidence for a null effect of emotion. Across three experiments, the third of which employed a sequential design with Bayesian statistics and a sample of 800 participants, negative emotion did not decrease associative memory accuracy in the hippocampal-dependent "paired-associates" condition. These results challenge the dual representation theory, at least in the context of nontraumatic, controlled laboratory conditions.

Indexed as

Association LearningEmotionsHippocampusMemoryWeatherAdultBayes TheoremCuesFemaleHumansMaleYoung AdultAssociative memoryEmotionPaired-associatesStatistical learningWeather prediction task

Identifiers

PMID41372587

DOI10.3758/s13415-025-01371-4

PMCPMC13260119

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.