Effects And Mechanisms Of Emotional Cue On Judgments Of Learning Of Episodic Memory: Evidence From Behavioral And ERP Studies

Judgments of learning(JOLs)are predictive assessments of an individual’s ability to remember currently studied items on subsequent tests correctly.The direct access hypothesis proposes that JOLs can make predictions by monitoring memory content,but the cue utilization theory suggests that JOLs do not monitor memory directly but make inferences based on cues.Previous researches have shown that people have higher JOLs for emotional information than neutral information,but it remains unknown whether this phenomenon is based on direct access or cue utilization.As the effect of emotion on situational memory varies by memory type and only affects item memory but not associative memory(pictureframe form),the cognitive mechanisms by which emotional cues affect JOLs can be revealed by exploring the effect of emotional cues on item and associative memory JOLs.If the differential effects of emotion on the item and associative memory can be reflected in JOLs it supports the support for the direct-access hypothesis,and vice versa for the cue-utilization framework.Furthermore,the mechanisms by which emotions influence JOLs are controversial,with processing fluency theory emphasizing the role of experience and analytical processing theory weakening the contribution of experience and emphasizing the role of beliefs.Assessing the role of processing fluency(experience)and beliefs in JOLs is critical to understanding how people monitor emotional information,but it is difficult to isolate the contribution of processing fluency through behavioral research alone because manipulating or measuring fluency may lead to the resulting fluency differences affecting JOLs through the belief pathway,and the ERP technology provides us with the opportunity to explore whether processing fluency could play a role in JOLs.In summary,the present study examined the effect of emotion on the item and associative memory JOLs through behavioral and ERP techniques and provided insight into the cognitive mechanisms and neuro electrophysiological features behind this effect.Experiment 1 explored the similarities and differences in the effects of emotion on the item and associative memory JOLs through item memory and associative memory in the form of picture-frame.It was found that the results of JOLs in item memory showed the emotional salience effect,while there was no salience effect of emotion on JOLs in associative memory.Experiment 2 further controlled for additional factors such as picture complexity that might interfere with emotional cues to verify whether the results of Experiment 1 were stable and to explore whether processing fluency(experience)could play a role in JOLs through ERP techniques.It was found that JOLs in both item and associative memory showed emotionally significant effects and that emotional pictures evoked greater P2 amplitudes in frontal areas compared to neutral pictures.This led to the following conclusions in the current study:(1)The effect of emotion on JOLs is not based on direct access to memory content,but rather is the result of individuals using emotion as an available cue to make inferences about memory.(2)The effect of emotion on JOLs may be through the experiential pathway,with higher JOLs for emotional stimuli primarily because emotional stimuli have higher processing fluency than neutral stimuli.In summary,the present study explored the effects of emotions on both item and associative memory JOLs,suggesting that emotions influence JOLs because individuals use emotions as cues for JOLs,confirming the role of processing fluency in JOLs,and supporting the perspective that emotions may influence JOLs through the experiential pathway.This contributes to a further understanding of metamemory monitoring mechanisms and provides pre-theoretical support for improving the accuracy of individual metamemory monitoring.