The influence of positive emotion with varying intensities of approach motivation on false memory and its neural mechanisms: A study based on semantic-related false memory

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.0349

Abstract

Abstract:

Emotions can influence false memories. Previous research has primarily focused on the effects of emotional valence and arousal on false memories. To date, the motivational dimension of emotions and its neural mechanisms in influencing false memories remain unclear. This study induced participants to experience positive emotions with varying intensities of approach motivation using the facial-expression-gesture method, and combined it with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate changes in cortical oxyhemoglobin concentration during the learning of DRM word lists under high, medium, and low intensities of approach motivation positive emotions, as well as the impact of these changes on semantically related false memories. The results showed that the high approach condition produced more false memories. Additionally, in some areas of the left frontal and temporal lobes, the brain activation levels under the high approach condition were significantly higher than those under medium and low approach conditions, indicating that high approach conditions elicit greater brain activation in specific regions. Correlation analysis results indicated that under high approach conditions, the activation levels in the left inferior frontal gyrus and temporal lobe were significantly positively correlated with the rate of false memories; under low approach conditions, the activation levels in the left inferior temporal gyrus were significantly negatively correlated with false memories. These results suggest that positive emotions with different intensities of approach motivation affect the generation of false memories, and the intensity of approach motivation affects the strength of activation in semantically related brain regions, with the left inferior temporal gyrus showing a dissociative effect in the process of false memory generation under different intensities of approach motivation positive emotions.

Key words: false memory, emotional motivation, positive emotion, semantic association, fNIRS

ZHANG Huan, QIN Xiquan, LIU Yu, LIN Lin, WU Jie. (2025). The influence of positive emotion with varying intensities of approach motivation on false memory and its neural mechanisms: A study based on semantic-related false memory. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 57(3), 349-362.

Figures/Tables 7

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of emotional motivation induction operations, where A) Positive emotion induction - smiling expression, B) High approach motivation positive emotion induction, C) Medium approach motivation positive emotion induction, D) Low approach motivation positive emotion induction (Note: The image is cited from Price & Harmon-Jones, 2011).

Figure 2. Distribution of fNIRS channels (CH) and the optode cap channel layout, where red circles represent the transmit electrodes, blue circles represent the receiving electrodes, yellow indicates channels, and numbers correspond to channel IDs.

Table 1 Descriptive statistical results of individuals’ “studied” response under different experimental conditions (M (SD))

Conditions	Study words Hit	Critical lures False Alarm	Irrelevant words False Alarm
High Approach	0.76 (0.12)	0.75 (0.15)	0.17 (0.19)
Medium Approach	0.73 (0.11)	0.73 (0.19)	0.22 (0.19)
Low Approach	0.74 (0.16)	0.62 (0.22)	0.17 (0.22)

Figure 3. Channel Activation and Main Effect F-value Test Chart under Different Intensities of Approach Motivation Positive Emotional Conditions for Individuals, where A) represents the brain activation of individuals under high approach motivation conditions, B) represents the brain activation of individuals under medium approach motivation conditions, C) represents the brain activation of individuals under low approach motivation conditions, D) represents the main effect F-value plot of approach motivation intensity (Note: The closer the color in the figure to red, the more significant the activation; the numbers in Figure D represent the corresponding channels.)

Figure 4. Brain activation differences in individuals across different regions of interest under various intensities of approach motivation positive emotional conditions, where A) represents the brain activation differences in the left frontal lobe, and B) represents the brain activation differences in the left temporal lobe. The values on the coordinate axes in the figure are magnified by a factor of 10,000, and the same applies to the subsequent figures.

Figure 5. Heatmaps of correlation values between beta values of each channel and the rate of false alarms for critical lures under three intensities of approach motivation positive emotional conditions, where A) represents the high approach motivation positive emotional condition, B) represents the medium approach motivation positive emotional condition, and C) represents the low approach motivation positive emotional condition. The numbers in the figure correspond to the respective channels.

Figure 6. Correlation between the activation values of the inferior temporal gyrus and the rate of false alarms for critical lures under different intensities of approach motivation positive emotional conditions, where A) represents the high approach motivation positive emotional condition, B) represents the medium approach motivation positive emotional condition, and C) represents the low approach motivation positive emotional condition.

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