Question: Since episodic memories are determined on the strength on conditions when they occur as to whether they become a memory, why is the emotion experienced during this event so important in allowing the memory to be remembered? Do the emotions create a Cue which when experienced will elicit a memory?

Christina Brown answered on 5 Mar 2021:

Hi Olivia,
This is a really important question and still something we are still trying to understand. You are completely correct in suggesting the emotions create a cue! We think it might be due to the evolutionary advantageous in adding valence (positive or negative emotion) to experiences that may increase an animal’s survival. This can be shown by having an animal have two rooms it can go into, but one room would give the mouse a shock and the other is a neutral room with nothing in it. The animal would remember not to go into the shock room the next day because of this.
This also occurs if you give the animal a reward instead of a shock in the room – it will proceed to go to the reward room the next day because it remembered the positive emotional association. If you silence the emotional part of the brain (the amygdala), the animal will not remember if they were shocked/given a reward in the room and will enter it the same amounts of times as the neutral room.