122 male and female undergraduates were presented with 12 written jokes, half during an examination (moderate arousal) and half during a lecture (low arousal). Two weeks after each presentation the students were asked to recall as many jokes and characteristics of the jokes as possible. Across the conditions there was better memory for meaning than for literal wording of these jokes which were used to illustrate a concept. Furthermore, this difference was enhanced by moderate arousal, especially for women.
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