At the beginning history class, the teacher reviewed the major battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Later in class, he showed a video on the Holocaust during World War II

Based on the experiments on the effects of emotions on memory discussed in your textbook, what effect will watching the video have on the students' memories for the battles of the Napoleonic wars?
A) The video will likely increase their recall for the battles.
B) The video will likely decrease their recall for the battles.
C) The video will likely have no effect on their recall for the battles because the video was on a different topic.
D) The video will likely decrease their recall in the short term, but improve it in the long-term.

Answer: A
Rationale: Emotions can lead to stronger memory formation, even if the information is not directly related to the emotional event. For example, in one study discussed in the textbook, participants studied a list of words and were then randomly assigned to view a tape of oral surgery (the emotional condition) or the way to brush your teeth effectively (not the emotional condition). After the slideshow, the group members who viewed the surgery tape remembered more of the words.