Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. otanit-tky@umin.ac.jp
Abstract
Previous studies on rapid eye movement sleep have demonstrated the effect of eye movement on emotional memory. However, the brain mechanism involved in the influence of the eye movement on the emotional recall remains unclear. We investigated the prefrontal response during an emotional memory recall with and without eye movement. Ten healthy volunteers were recruited. The changes in concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin ([oxy-Hb]) in the prefrontal cortex were examined using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during a task that involved emotional recall with and without eye movement. Six participants demonstrated a significant increase in [oxy-Hb] during emotional recall, and the level of increase was reduced through repeated emotional recall with eye movement. The results suggest that eye movement is associated with a reduction in the hemodynamic response to emotional memory recall.