Emotional valence effect on prospective memory in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Introduction: prospective memory is the ability to remember to perform actions in the future. Currently there is no consensus about the relationship between prospective memory and emotional processing. Objective: The aim of this work is to determine the influence of the emotional valence of prospective memory signals on prospective recall in patients diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis. Method: 37 patients with multiple sclerosis and 32 healthy volunteers were recruited. An experimental test was made where the concurrent task consisted in a 2-back working memory activity and the prospective component consisted of remembering to press a key on the computer when an image of positive, negative or neutral emotional content appears on the screen. Results: An intra-group comparison was made between the memory of emotional and neutral stimuli, and it was obtained that the differences are significant in both groups in favor of the recall of stimuli with neutral valence (Z = -3.39, p = .001 for the control group and Z = -2.63, p = .008 for multiple sclerosis). Discussion: The results indicate that emotionally neutral target stimuli benefits prospective memory in normal people and in multiple sclerosis patients. The limitations of the implemented method are discussed.