Disgust and memory for visually and verbally presented information

We tested the hypothesis that - when encountering a disgusting versus neutral stimulus - people accurately recall fewer details of the disgusting stimulus. Eighty-one participants viewed either a disgusting or neutral visual image of a man with a broken arm, while listening to a story about the man. Participants assigned to the disgust versus neutral condition recalled significantly fewer visual details about the image. Results contribute to our understanding of how disgust modulates memory. Prior work has noted that emotions with strong arousal components boost memory; specifically, other researchers have demonstrated enhanced recall and recognition for disgusting versus other types of stimuli. Whereas item recall and recognition may be boosted for disgusting versus other types of stimuli, our work suggests that memory for details about the disgusting stimulus may be compromised.