Honors Theses
Date of Award
5-7-2026
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Paul Loprinzi
Second Advisor
Kaitlyn Armstrong
Third Advisor
Robert Hunt
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Arousal is known to influence memory formation, yet it remains unclear whether the source of arousal differentially affects memory performance. This study compared physiological arousal induced by vigorous exercise with emotional arousal induced by an emotionally evocative video, relative to matched control conditions. Seventy-six young adults completed four counterbalanced arousal conditions, each occurring on a separate laboratory visit and including 10-min of treadmill exercise, 10-min of treadmill rest (standing), 10-min of viewing an emotional video, and 10-min of viewing a neutral video. These four arousal manipulations occurred immediately prior to encoding a word list containing both high- and low-arousal items. Free recall was assessed 20-min and 24-hours after encoding the word list. Manipulation checks confirmed successful induction of physiological and emotional arousal; however, neither arousal source influenced overall recall. In contrast, high-arousal words were recalled more frequently than low-arousal words at the 24-hour delay, independent of arousal condition. These findings suggest that transient state-level arousal, when decoupled from stimulus relevance, does not reliably enhance episodic memory, underscoring the primacy of item-level arousal in long-term memory consolidation.
Recommended Citation
Thorpe, Avery M. and Patel, Khushi, "Source of Arousal on Memory Function" (2026). Honors Theses. 3518.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3518
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