Efeito do alerta e valência emocional nos componentes de lembrança e familiaridade da memória episódica

The episodic memory system allows us to retrieve information about events, including its contextual aspects. It has been suggested that episodic memory is composed by two independent components: recollection and familiarity. Recollection is related to the vivid e detailed retrieval of item and contextual information, while familiarity is the capability to recognize items previously seen as familiars. Despite the fact that emotion is one of the most influent process on memory, only a few studies have investigated its effect on recollection and familiarity. Another limitation of studies about the effect of emotion on memory is that the majority of them have not adequately considered the differential effects of arousal and positive/negative valence. The main purpose of the current work is to investigate the independent effect of emotional valence and arousal on recollection and familiarity, as well as to test some hypothesis that have been suggested about the effect of emotion on episodic memory. The participants of the research performed a recognition task for three lists of emotional pictures: high arousal negative, high arousal positive and low arousal positive. At the test session, participants also rated the confidence level of their responses. The confidence ratings were used to plot ROC curves and estimate the contributions of recollection and familiarity of recognition performance. As the main results, we found that negative valence enhanced the component of recollection without any effect on familiarity or recognition accuracy. Arousal did not affect recognition performance or their components, but high arousal was associated with a higher proportion of false memories. This work highlight the importance of to consider both the emotional dimensions and episodic memory components in the study of emotion effect on episodic memory, since they interact in complex and independent way

efeito da aplicação de uma solução salina no crescimento e na composição química da atriplex nummularia

This study aimed to analyze the effect of a saline solution on growth and chemical composition of Atriplex nummularia, shrubby plant, absorbing salts used in the diet of animals and the management of water and saline soils. These plant seedlings were planted and grown in a reserved area at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. The plantation was divided into two blocks, in which one of them was irrigated with saline solution with a concentration of 2840 mgL-1 of NaCl and the second group was irrigated with drinking water. After six months, the plants were collected, harvested and divided into three parts: leaf, thin and thick stem. Monthly, dimension measurements were carried out for cataloging the growth of Atriplex. Ion Chromatography (IC) and Optical Emission Spectroscopy Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-OES) were used to analyze the chemical composition of the partition plant parts. The results of these analyses revealed that an absorption process of anions and cations by Atriplex nummularia plant during its growth was achieved, in particular by a higher concentration of sodium and chloride ions. Scanning electron microscopy images showed and confirmed the presence of small crystals on the leaf surface. Electrical conductivity and pH measurements of the aerial parts of the plant were carried out and these results showed that the leaf is the plant part where there is a largest concentration of ions. In addition, measurements of specific surface were obtained from irrigated plants with saline solution, achieving higher surface area, in all cases. Plant dimensions obtained monthly showed that the plants irrigated with water grew 5% more than those plants irrigated with saline solution. Based on results obtained, Atriplex plant showed a higher potential to survive and adapt to environments (aquatic or geological) with high levels of salinity and this property can be used as a tool for removing salts/metals from industrial contaminated soils and effluents.