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RE: Emotions Can 'Hangover' and Bias Our Future Memories
Or at least the negative emotional state would not be as beneficial to one's ability to remember information or knowledge compared to a positive emotional state.
Off the top of my head, I would say it's the actual opposite of this.
If you think about it from a biological survival perspective, it's the negative experiences that are essential to be remembered - for survival.
Our bodies tend to work on negative feedback loops, not positive ones.
Remembering positive emotional states is nice, but not survival.
Remembering negative one most definitely are 'survival memories'.
I'm on my first coffee of the morning, so feel free to blow my hypothesis to bits! lol
But information or knowledge you read or watch. If you are in a positive emotional state, your more inclined to receptive to info. whereas being in a negative emotional state you would be less inclined to receive info or remember it.
For survival situations, yes, as you describe. But receiving info isn't a survival scenario ;)
I would say that the mechanism of 'writing them to hard drive' is motivated by survival.
(it would never get 'written to hard drive', if there was no survival merit to ever learn..)
If that is the case, I would see the negative (live or die states), to be the heaviest imprinted - ergo a clearer memory of what has been learned.
thing of how quick a child learns that putting your hand in a fire is a not good idea, and how long it takes to learn.... colors... or something...
The survival mode leaves a harder imprint.