A STUDY TO THE ROLE OF THE EMOTIONAL AROUSAL BY NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE STIMULUS IN THE MEMORY AND LEARNING PERFORMANCES OF MEDICAL STUDENTS OF SHAHID BEHESHTI UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Resumo

Introduction: Recent studies have highlighted the effect of emotional states on cognitive processes. Humans cannot distinguish between different types of emotions, which justify various effects of different emotions on humans. Emotions can lead to loss of function and may have negative effects on daily lives (e.g. test anxiety). Given the cognitive distortion induced by emotional stimuli and environmental events, the present study aimed to compare the effect of arousal induced by positive and negative emotional stimuli on memory and learning function of medical students.Methods and results: This was a semi-experimental study. The sample size was determined as 46. A convenient non-probability sampling was used to select from all students majoring in neurology and psychiatry. The students were randomly divided into two groups. The first group was exposed to positive emotional stimuli and the second group was exposed to negative emotional stimuli. Memory function or involvement was assessed at the first and the last week of internship in the first phase of the study. In the second phase, the students were exposed to emotional stimuli via a monitor. Memory scale and calculation subscale were assessed again. Data collection instruments were demographic questionnaire, Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), the revised version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R), and the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The findings were compared before and after exposure to emotional stimulus. The paired t-test and Student's t-test were used for statistical analysis. The findings indicated a significant difference in memory function of both groups. Conclusion: A significant difference was also found in scores of the students exposed to pleasant stimuli in both memory and learning function variables. However, a significant difference was found in only memory function in the group of students exposed to unpleasant emotions. The result of the study showed that different types of emotions have various effects on memory function.