@article{3056402,
    title = "Emojis influence autobiographical memory retrieval from reading words: An fMRI-based study",
    author = "Chatzichristos, C. and Morante, M. and Andreadis, N. and Kofidis, E. and Kopsinis, Y. and Theodoridis, S.",
    journal = "PLOS ONE",
    year = "2020",
    volume = "15",
    number = "7 July",
    publisher = "Public Library of Science",
    doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0234104",
    keywords = "adult;  Article;  autobiographical memory;  Broca area;  emoji;  emotion;  female;  frontal lobe;  functional magnetic resonance imaging;  human;  human experiment;  information processing;  left hemisphere;  male;  memory;  memory retrieval;  normal human;  prefrontal cortex;  reaction time;  reading;  recall;  right hemisphere;  stimulus response;  supplementary motor area;  young adult;  brain;  brain mapping;  comprehension;  episodic memory;  facial expression;  interpersonal communication;  memory;  motor cortex;  nonverbal communication;  nuclear magnetic resonance imaging;  physiology;  procedures;  psychology;  reading;  symbolism;  temporal lobe;  writing, Adult;  Brain;  Brain Mapping;  Communication;  Comprehension;  Emotions;  Facial Expression;  Female;  Healthy Volunteers;  Humans;  Magnetic Resonance Imaging;  Male;  Memory;  Memory, Episodic;  Mental Recall;  Motor Cortex;  Nonverbal Communication;  Prefrontal Cortex;  Reading;  Symbolism;  Temporal Lobe;  Writing;  Young Adult",
    abstract = "Advances in computer and communications technology have deeply affected the way we communicate. Social media have emerged as a major means of human communication. However, a major limitation in such media is the lack of non-verbal stimuli, which sometimes hinders the understanding of the message, and in particular the associated emotional content. In an effort to compensate for this, people started to use emoticons, which are combinations of keyboard characters that resemble facial expressions, and more recently their evolution: emojis, namely, small colorful images that resemble faces, actions and daily life objects. This paper presents evidence of the effect of emojis on memory retrieval through a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study. A total number of fifteen healthy volunteers were recruited for the experiment, during which successive stimuli were presented, containing words with intense emotional content combined with emojis, either with congruent or incongruent emotional content. Volunteers were asked to recall a memory related to the stimulus. The study of the reaction times showed that emotional incongruity among word+emoji combinations led to longer reaction times in memory retrieval compared to congruent combinations. General Linear Model (GLM) and Blind Source Separation (BSS) methods have been tested in assessing the influence of the emojis on the process of memory retrieval. The analysis of the fMRI data showed that emotional incongruity among word +emoji combinations activated the Broca’s area (BA44 and BA45) in both hemispheres, the Supplementary Motor Area (SMA) and the inferior prefrontal cortex (BA47), compared to congruent combinations. Furthermore, compared to pseudowords, word+emoji combinations activated the left Broca’s area (BA44 and BA45), the amygdala, the right temporal pole (BA48) and several frontal regions including the SMA and the inferior prefrontal cortex. © 2020 Chatzichristos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited."
}