Abstract
Research has shown that we remember emotional information at the expense of surrounding background information, a phenomenon known as the emotional memory tradeoff effect. The stress response, and in particular cortisol, has been shown to both enhance and impair memory performance depending on when it occurs. While previous research has looked at how aging impacts the tradeoff by manipulating valence (positive, negative) and arousal (low to high) of objects and backgrounds, no prior study has looked at the effect of pre-learning cortisol and age on the tradeoff scores. Participants viewed and rated items placed on neutral backgrounds and later recalled both. Cortisol was also collected prior to encoding. Results revealed that higher pre-learning cortisol predicted a larger memory tradeoff for negative items in older adults relative to younger adults. No such interaction emerged for the positive tradeoff effect or in younger adults. These results suggest that the interaction between age and pre-learning cortisol play an important role in affecting the degree to which we remember emotional information. \r \r Keywords: tradeoff, emotion, memory, aging, cortisol