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Abstract: Emotion shapes autobiographical memory (AM) by tagging events that are relevant for the narrative self, which may be viewed as a hierarchical network of interconnected goals. Subsequent AM retrieval is a reconstruction process that grounds the self by providing coherent narratives organized to elicit a sense of identity across the time. The lateral and medial prefrontal cortices underlie reconstruction and self-referential processing, respectively, whereas the lateral and medial temporal cortices underlie semantic and episodic aspects, respectively. Additionally, the posterior cortical midline structures and the amygdala are involved in visual and emotional aspects, respectively. These regions have been found to display aberrant functioning in major depression. Accordingly, major depression is associated with impairments of AM retrieval combining mood-congruency, overgenerality, intrusive memories and third-person visual perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Emotions comprise a somatic and a psychological dimension. Indeed, they are both behavioural responses to internal or external stimuli and subjective experiences or feelings. Emotional perception can be defined as the detection and the appraisal of the emotional value of encountered stimuli. Attention capture and perceptual amplification are two important properties of emotional perception, which can result in enhanced conscious perception and increased processing of emotional stimuli. It has been proposed that amygdala plays a central role in the early detection of emotional stimuli. This paper presents the evidence accumulated in support of this proposal. In particular, recent studies showing emotional modulation of early brain responses (C1 and P1) to visual stimuli with electro- and magneto-encephalography (EEG and MEG) are reviewed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]