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In four experiments subjects remembered the critical information in a traumatic slide as either more focused spatially than in its original presentation or more focused spatially than information in a matched neutral slide. Subjects comprehend a neutral scene by automatically extending its boundaries and understanding the visual information in a broader external context. However, when subjects are negatively aroused by a scene, they process more elaborately those critical details that were the source of the emotional arousal, and they maintain or restrict the scene's boundaries. ‘Tunnel memory’ results from this greater elaboration of critical details and more focused boundaries. Tunnel memory may explain the superior recognition and recall of central, emotion-arousing details in a traumatic event, as shown in previous research on emotion and memory. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Safer et al. (1998) studied this question.