The influence of emotion on temporal context models

Temporal context models (TCMs) have been influential in understanding episodic memory and its neural underpinnings. Recently, TCMs have been extended to explain emotional memory effects, one of the most clinically important findings in the field of memory research. This review covers recent advances in hypotheses for the neural representation of spatiotemporal context through the lens of TCMs, including their ability to explain the influence of emotion on episodic and temporal memory. In recent years, simplifying assumptions of “classical” TCMs–with exponential trace decay and the mechanism by which temporal context is recovered–have become increasingly clear. The review also outlines how recent advances could be incorporated into a future TCM, beyond classical assumptions, to integrate emotional modulation.