Mood and memory for tightly organized social information

The frequently cited finding that mood-congruent information can be better recalled than mood-incongruent information is tested using categorically organized stimulus material which imposes a systematic structure on the recall process. A target person was described with respect to six categories of social behaviour, with predominantly desirable behaviours in some categories and predominantly undesirable behaviours in others. Participants were induced either an elated mood state or a neutral state using Velten's procedure. Instructions (impression formation versus memory) were also manipulated. Although the mood manipulation apparently worked and did influence the impression judgments of the target person, it did not selectively facilitate the recall of mood-congruent material, neither at the level of specific items nor at the categorical level. However, when only deviating behaviours are considered which do not fit the structural constraints, mood-congruent information is indeed better recalled. To interpret these results, it is argued that the manifestation of mood effects depends on the restrictions of different tasks or response modes. Three other findings were obtained: Superior recall of redundant, structurally consistent information compared with deviating information; an advantage of positive over negative information which is confined to the impression formation condition; and, surprisingly, an incongruency effect for the encoding mood which may reflect the deeper processing of incongruent material.     

Understanding vulnerability for depression from a cognitive neuroscience perspective: A reappraisal of attentional factors and a new conceptual framework

We propose a framework to understand increases in vulnerability for depression after recurrent episodes that links attention processes and schema activation to negative mood states, by integrating cognitive and neurobiological findings. Depression is characterized by a mood-congruent attentional bias at later stages of information processing. The basic idea of our framework is that decreased activity in prefrontal areas, mediated by the serotonin metabolism which the HPA axis controls, is associated with an impaired attenuation of subcortical regions, resulting in prolonged activation of the amygdala in response to stressors in the environment. Reduced prefrontal control in interaction with depressogenic schemas leads to impaired ability to exert attentional inhibitory control over negative elaborative processes such as rumination, leading in turn to sustained negative affect. These elaborative processes are triggered by the activation of negative schemas after confrontation with stressors. In our framework, attentional impairments are postulated as a crucial process in explaining the increasing vulnerability after depressive episodes, linking cognitive and biological vulnerability factors. We review the empirical data on the biological factors associated with the attentional impairments and detail how they are associated with rumination and mood regulation. The aim of our framework is to stimulate translational research.     

Mood and multiple source characteristics: mood congruency of source consensus status and source trustworthiness as determinants of message scrutiny

This research deals with the interplay of mood and multiple source characteristics in regard to persuasion processes and attitudes. In a four-factorial experiment, mood (positive vs. negative), source consensus status (majority vs. minority), source trustworthiness (high vs. low), and message strength (strong vs. weak) were manipulated. Results were in line with predictions of a mood-congruent expectancies perspective rather than competing predictions of a mood-as-information perspective. Specifically, individuals in both moods evinced higher message scrutiny given mood-incongruent (vs. mood-congruent) source characteristics. That is, across source trustworthiness, positive (negative) mood led to higher message scrutiny given a minority (majority) versus a majority (minority) source. Furthermore, across source consensus, positive (negative) mood led to higher message scrutiny given an untrustworthy (trustworthy) versus a trustworthy (untrustworthy) source. Additional analyses revealed that processing effort increased from doubly mood-congruent source combinations (low effort) over mixed-source combinations (intermediate effort) to doubly mood-incongruent combinations (high effort). Implications are discussed.     

DRM范式下心境一致性错误记忆的认知机制

本研究以自编情绪DRM词表为实验材料, 用音乐诱发正常大学生被试正性、负性和中性心境, 探讨在被试处于某种心境下时是否产生心境一致性错误记忆现象、预警能否减少心境一致性错误记忆的发生。结果表明, 正性关键诱饵在正性心境下的错误再认率显著高于中性和负性心境, 负性关键诱饵在负性心境下的错误再认率显著高于中性和正性心境, 说明正常被试也会产生心境一致性错误记忆; 预警和无预警条件下被试对关键诱饵和心境一致性关键诱饵的错误再认率无显著差异, 说明外显的预警提示并不能消除部分由无意识产生的错误记忆和心境一致性错误记忆。研究结果支持记忆的扩散激活理论和情感的联想网络理论。     

Mood and the generation effect

Three experiments address the assumptions, derived from a dual-force model, that positive mood supports assimilative (knowledge-driven) processes whereas negative mood supports accommodative (stimulus-driven) functions, and that mood-selective recall (mood congruency) is mainly a matter of assimilation. The generation-effect paradigm was borrowed from memory research to test these assumptions. In Experiment 1, the theoretical variable, degree of assimilation, was operationalised by the ease with which stimulus meaning could be generated from word fragments. In Experiment 2, self-generated stimuli (assimilation) were compared to experimenter-provided stimuli (accommodation). As predicted, positive mood supported assimilation which in turn enhanced mood-congruent recall. In Experiment 3, retrieval mood rather than encoding mood was manipulated. In this situation, positive mood facilitated the recall of all self-generated information, whether congruent or not. The empirical results are generally consistent with the predictions derived from the dual-force framework.     

Unconscious memory bias in depression: perceptual and conceptual processes

Mood-congruent memory (MCM) bias in depression was investigated using 4 different implicit memory tests. Two of the implicit tests were perceptually driven, and 2 were conceptually driven. Depressed participants and nondepressed controls were assigned to 1 of 4 implicit memory tests after studying positive and negative adjectives. Results showed no MCM bias in the perceptually driven tests. MCM was demonstrated in 1 of the conceptually driven tests, but only for adjectives that were conceptually encoded. Results support the theory that mood-congruent processes in depression are limited to conceptual processing. However, activation of conceptual processes may not be sufficient for demonstrating mood congruency.     

Mood, source characteristics, and message processing: A mood-congruent expectancies approach

Based on two lines of research, a model is proposed to explain when individuals in a positive mood as well as individuals in a negative mood invest more or less effort in message processing. First, research has shown that moods affect likelihood estimates. That is, positive (negative) mood leads to a mood-congruent increase regarding the occurrence of positively (negatively) valenced events. Second, research has shown that mood-unrelated expectancies affect message processing. Combining both lines of research, I argue that mood-congruent expectancies also affect message scrutiny, that is, more effortful processing given expectancy disconfirmation rather than expectancy confirmation. This prediction was tested in two experiments involving initial information regarding source honesty and likability, respectively. As predicted, individuals in both positive and negative moods evinced more effortful message processing when initial information disconfirmed rather than confirmed expectancies. Thus, these results are consistent with a quite flexible view of individuals in both positive and negative moods regarding the effort invested in information processing.     

再认记忆测验中抑郁个体的心境一致性记忆研究

采用Ｊａｃｏｂｙ的加工分离程序,对再从记忆测验中外显记忆成分与内隐记忆成分的贡献进行分离,考察了抑郁个体的内隐记忆和外显记忆是否具有心境一致性记忆倾向。结果表明：抑郁个体的外显记忆具有心境一致性倾向,而内隐记忆不存在心境一致性倾向,表明心境一致性记忆需要精细加工机制的参与。另外发现,抑郁个体存在外显记忆缺损而没有出现内隐记忆缺损。最后就一些有待进一步研究的方面进行了讨论。     

Mood-congruent perceptions of success depend on self-other framing

Research on self-other framing suggests that self-judgements typically neglect information about others and instead use an ambiguous intrapersonal standard, making these judgements susceptible to the influence of mood as predicted by the affect infusion model (Forgas, 1995). Two experiments tested the hypothesis that mood-congruent judgements of personal success occur when these judgements are framed to maintain self-focus but are eliminated when participants first focus on other individuals. In Experiment 1, self-other framing moderated the influence of mood on perceived success for an ambiguous object identification task. Happy participants reported greater perceived success, compared to sad participants, after judging their own success relative to others (self-focused frame) but not after directly judging the success of others (other-focused frame). Experiment 2 replicated these results with students' perceptions of their academic success. These findings suggest that the open, constructive processing accompanying most self-judgements is critical in producing mood-congruent perceptions of personal success.     

Dissociative effects of true and false recall as a function of different encoding strategies

Goodwin, Meissner, and Ericsson (2001) proposed a path model in which elaborative encoding predicted the likelihood of verbalisation of critical, nonpresented words at encoding, which in turn predicted the likelihood of false recall. The present study tested this model of false recall experimentally with a manipulation of encoding strategy and the implementation of the process-tracing technique of protocol analysis. Findings indicated that elaborative encoding led to more verbalisations of critical items during encoding than rote rehearsal of list items, but false recall rates were reduced under elaboration conditions (Experiment 2). Interestingly, false recall was more likely to occur when items were verbalised during encoding than not verbalised (Experiment 1), and participants tended to reinstate their encoding strategies during recall, particularly after elaborative encoding (Experiment 1). Theoretical implications for the interplay of encoding and retrieval processes of false recall are discussed.     

Decision mechanisms underlying mood-congruent emotional classification

There is great interest in understanding whether and how mood influences affective processing. Results in the literature have been mixed: some studies show mood-congruent processing but others do not. One limitation of previous work is that decision components for affective processing and responses biases are not dissociated. The present study explored the roles of affective processing and response biases using a drift-diffusion model (DDM) of simple choice. In two experiments, participants decided if words were emotionally positive or negative while listening to music that induced positive or negative mood. The behavioural results showed weak, inconsistent mood-congruency effects. In contrast, the DDM showed consistent effects that were selectively driven by an a-priori bias in response expectation, suggesting that music-induced mood influences expectations about the emotionality of upcoming stimuli, but not the emotionality of the stimuli themselves. Implications for future studies of emotional classification and mood are subsequently discussed.     

Looking while unhappy: mood-congruent gaze in young adults, positive gaze in older adults

Recent findings that older adults gaze toward positively valenced stimuli and away from negatively valenced stimuli have been interpreted as part of their attempts to achieve the goal of feeling good. However, the idea that older adults use gaze to regulate mood, and that their gaze does not simply reflect mood, stands in contrast to evidence of mood-congruent processing in young adults. No previous study has directly linked age-related positive gaze preferences to mood regulation. In this eye-tracking study, older and younger adults in a range of moods viewed synthetic face pairs varying in valence. Younger adults demonstrated mood-congruent gaze, looking more at positive faces when in a good mood and at negative faces when in a bad mood. Older adults displayed mood-incongruent positive gaze, looking toward positive and away from negative faces when in a bad mood. This finding suggests that in older adults, gaze does not reflect mood, but rather is used to regulate it.     

On feeling good and getting your way: mood effects on negotiator cognition and bargaining strategies.

Are happy people more likely to be cooperative and successful negotiators? On the basis of the Affect Infusion Model (AIM; Forgas, 1995a). Experiment 1 predicted and found that both good and bad moods had a significant mood-congruent effect on people's thoughts and plans, and on their negotiation strategies and outcomes in both interpersonal and intergroup bargaining. Experiment 2 replicated these results and also showed that mood effects were reduced for persons more likely to adopt motivated processing strategies (scoring high on machiavellianism and need for approval). Experiment 3 confirmed these effects and demonstrated that the mood of the opposition also produced more mood-congruent bargaining strategies and outcomes. The results are discussed in terms of affect priming influences on interpersonal behaviors, and the implications of these findings for real-life cognitive tasks and bargaining encounters are considered.     

Cognitive activity and physiological arousal: Processes that mediate mood-congruent memory

This research proposes that the cognitive activity associated with the experience of an emotional state mediates the occurrence of mood-congruent processing. Two experiments examined the role of cognitive activity in selective processing of words in a mood congruence paradigm. Four induction procedures were used: a depressed-mood induction, a schema induction organized around the theme of writing a paper, an arousal induction, and a control neutral-mood induction. The memory task consisted of recalling a word list composed of negatively associated and thematically organized words. Selective processing was demonstrated in conjunction with the depressed-mood and organizational-schema induction procedures. In contrast, the arousal and neutral induction procedures did not produce selective processing of words from the list. The findings support the thesis that cognitive activity mediates the selective processing typical of mood congruence as distinct from arousal processes per se. The findings are discussed with respect to the resource allocation model and semantic network theory.     

Mood-congruent and mood-incongruent learning

We report two experiments that investigate the effect of an induced mood on the incidental learning of emotionally toned words. Subjects were put in a happy or sad mood by means of a suggestion technique and rated the emotional valence of a list of words. Later on, they were asked to recall the words in a neutral mood. For words with a strong emotional valence, mood-congruent learning was observed: strongly unpleasant words were recalled better by sad subjects and strongly pleasant words were recalled better by happy subjects. The reverse was true for slightly toned words: here, mood-incongruent learning was observed. Both effects are predicted by a two component processing model that specifies the effect of the mood on the cognitive processes during learning. Further evidence for the model is given by rating times measured in Experiment 2.     

Trait congruence in the study of the cognitive consequences of emotional arousal

This study investigated the possible influence of mood and emotional vulnerability on recall. Mood was induced by projecting highly emotionally laden slides. In the first experiment, 64 female subjects, rated low or high on emotional vulnerability, were tested on recall of mood-congruent, mood-incongruent and neutral words, under mood induction and non-mood induction conditions. Emotionally low-vulnerable subjects recalled more mood-congruent than mood-incongruent words in the mood induction condition, whereas the opposite was the case in the non-mood induction condition. Highly vulnerable subjects recalled more mood-congruent than mood-incongruent words in the non-mood induction condition and fewer mood-congruent words in the mood induction compared with non-mood induction condition. The results are discussed in terms of ‘mood congruence’ (to explain low-vulnerable (LV) subjects' performance) and in terms of ‘trait congruence’ (to explain highly-vulnerable (HV) subjects' performance). In a second experiment, which investigated LV and HV subjects' galvanic skin responses to highly- and low-emotionally laden slides, the highest values were those for HV subjects when exposed to emotional slides. The different activation of LV and HV subjects led us to reconsider previous reasoning regarding mood congruence and trait congruence in the light of the inverted U theory.     

Mood and the perception of unusual people: Affective asymmetry in memory and social judgments

Does good and bad mood have a different influence on our perceptions of typical and atypical people? In this experiment, people in happy, sad or neutral moods recalled, and formed impressions of high- or low-prototypical characters. We expected an asymmetric mood effect on memory, with better recall of typical targets that require simplified, schematic processing in positive mood, but greater negative mood effects on atypical targets that require more detailed and inferential processing. Subjects (N = 66) an audio-visual mood induction in an allegedly separate experiment, before recalling, and forming impressions about people who were consistent or inconsistent with familiar prototypes within their social milieu. We found the predicted mood-congruent bias in judgments, that was significantly greater for non-typical than for typical people. We also found evidence for positive-negative mood asymmetry in memory, with better recall of typical people in positive mood, and atypical people in negative mood. The findings are discussed in terms of contemporary multi-process models of affect and cognition (Forgas, 1992), and the implications for everyday affective influences on social judgments and stereotyping are considered.     

坏心情与工作行为：中庸思维跨层次的调节作用

本研究探讨工作中坏心情与3种工作行为(组织公民行为、反生产行为和任务绩效行为)在个体内水平的关系, 以及中庸思维在二者间跨层次的调节作用。采用经验抽样方法, 通过对72名员工历时两周的追踪调查, 获取被试每日心情状态和每日工作行为的数据。HLM 6.02分析表明：(1)每日坏心情显著地负向影响每日的组织公民行为和任务绩效行为, 而对反生产行为无显著影响; (2)中庸思维在“心情-行为”的联系间发挥调节作用, 高中庸思维者的坏心情对组织公民行为的负向影响较弱, 低中庸思维者的坏心情对组织公民行为的负向影响较强; 高中庸思维者的坏心情对任务绩效行为产生正向影响, 低中庸思维者的坏心情对任务绩效行为产生负向影响。     

Recollective Experience During Recognition of Emotional Words in Clinical Depression

Earlier work has shown that free recall tasks produce a robust mood-congruent memory effect in depression, whereas recognition tasks produce heterogeneous results. This study aimed to further investigate recognition memory for positive, negative and neutral words in depressed patients and matched comparison participants with the Remember/Know/Guess procedure for assessing recollection and familiarity. No mood-congruent memory bias effect was detected in discrimination abilities. However, depressed patients recollected (more Remember responses) more negative than positive or neutral words, whereas comparison participants recollected more positive than neutral words. No mood-congruent pattern was evidenced for Know responses. However, the depressed patients responded to fewer words overall with Know responses than the comparison participants. These results suggest that the mood-congruent memory pattern in depressed patients is related to conscious recollection rather than to familiarity. Attentional biases toward negative words and elaboration processes and/or encoding in reference to the self may contribute to these findings.