Emotional intensity and causal connectivity's influence on memory for narratives

Memories for events have been found to increase when the number of causal connections increases, and when emotional intensity increases. The aim of this study was to examine how causal connectivity and emotional intensity relate to one another when both are present in an event. Using a text comprehension paradigm, memories for events that varied in terms of their causal connectivity and emotional intensity were examined for influence on memory performance. Emotionally intense information was better remembered than less emotionally intense information, and more causally connected information was remembered best. However, there were no interactions between the two constructs, suggesting that they are separate influences and independently affect memory.