Emotional mood states and memory: elaborative encoding, semantic processing, and cognitive effort

The effects of experimentally induced mood states on recall of target words embedded in sentences or alone were examined in three experiments. All experiments focused on the role of a depressed-mood induction on recall and looked at the effects of elaborative encoding, semantic processing, or cognitive effort. The overall effect of the depressed-mood state was to reduce recall in all three situations; however, the opportunity to process information semantically still led to superior recall in the depressed condition. In contrast, the superiority of recall of high-effort items disappeared in the depressed condition, suggesting that subjects may differentially allocate resources when under a depressed-mood state. The results are briefly discussed within the framework of a resource allocation theory.     

Reversed mnemic neglect of self-threatening memories in dysphoria

Previous research has suggested that people have difficulties remembering information which is threatening to the self—an effect known as mnemic neglect. Three experiments are presented that examined mnemic neglect in dysphoria and whether dysphoric individuals show enhanced memory for self-threatening information. Pilot work determined that dysphoric participants rated central negative traits as more important than nondysphoric participants. In Experiment 1, dysphoric participants were found to have better memory for self-threatening information than nondysphoric participants. Enhanced recall of self-threatening memories was also found for unmodifiable (Experiment 2), and highly diagnostic (Experiment 3) self-threatening traits. The findings suggest that dysphoric participants show reversed mnemic neglect effects indicating enhanced access to negative information relating to the self.     

Reversed mnemic neglect of self-threatening memories in dysphoria

Previous research has suggested that people have difficulties remembering information which is threatening to the self--an effect known as mnemic neglect. Three experiments are presented that examined mnemic neglect in dysphoria and whether dysphoric individuals show enhanced memory for self-threatening information. Pilot work determined that dysphoric participants rated central negative traits as more important than nondysphoric participants. In Experiment 1, dysphoric participants were found to have better memory for self-threatening information than nondysphoric participants. Enhanced recall of self-threatening memories was also found for unmodifiable (Experiment 2), and highly diagnostic (Experiment 3) self-threatening traits. The findings suggest that dysphoric participants show reversed mnemic neglect effects indicating enhanced access to negative information relating to the self.     

Memory accessibility, mood regulation, and dysphoria: difficulties in repairing sad mood with happy memories?

Recent studies have suggested that mood-incongruency effects are due to mood-regulatory processes, in which people retrieve positive memories to repair negative moods. In Study 1, the authors investigated whether dysphoria influences the accessibility of autobiographical memories following a positive or a negative mood induction combined with subsequent rumination or distraction. The results showed a mood-repair effect for nondysphoric but not for dysphoric participants following rumination. In Study 2, participants were asked to either distract themselves or to recall positive autobiographical memories after a negative mood induction. Whereas nondysphoric participants' mood improved under both conditions, dysphoric participants' mood improved only after distraction. These results suggest that dysphoria is associated with a reduced ability to use mood-incongruent recall to repair sad moods.     

Gaze behavior predicts memory bias for angry facial expressions in stable dysphoria

Interpersonal theories suggest that depressed individuals are sensitive to signs of interpersonal rejection, such as angry facial expressions. The present study examined memory bias for happy, sad, angry, and neutral facial expressions in stably dysphoric and stably nondysphoric young adults. Participants' gaze behavior (i.e., fixation duration, number of fixations, and distance between fixations) while viewing these facial expressions was also assessed. Using signal detection analyses, the dysphoric group had better accuracy on a surprise recognition task for angry faces than the nondysphoric group. Further, mediation analyses indicated that greater breadth of attentional focus (i.e., distance between fixations) accounted for enhanced recall of angry faces among the dysphoric group. There were no differences between dysphoria groups in gaze behavior or memory for sad, happy, or neutral facial expressions. Findings from this study identify a specific cognitive mechanism (i.e., breadth of attentional focus) that accounts for biased recall of angry facial expressions in dysphoria. This work also highlights the potential for integrating cognitive and interpersonal theories of depression.     

Executive processing differences between learning-disabled,mildly retarded,and normal achieving children

This study examined possible executive processing differences between mildly retarded, learning-disabled, and normal achieving children. To this end, the groups were compared as to their ability to recall central and secondary words from base and elaborative sentences under conditions of high and low encoding effort. Executive processing was inferred from the children's ability to maintain optimal recall performance for central and secondary words. Groups were comparable in central recall, but differences in secondary recall occurred for the high- effort encoding condition. Qualitative differences related to the prioritizing of resources (as reflected in the correlation between central and secondary recall) and monitoring the transfer of information (as reflected from central and secondary recall insertions) were found between groups. The results were discussed in terms of an executive processing frame-work that views retarded children as suffering from inefficiencies related to the sharing of resources, whereas the learning-disabled children's inefficiencies were related to the discrimination of resources.The author is indebted to Karl Schemdli, Director of Special Education and Susan Swaim, Research Director, University of Northern Colorado Laboratory School, for their administration assistance in providing children for this study. The author is indebted to Dr. Jim Nicholes for his assistance in the data collection.     

I don’t care about others’ approval: Dysphoric individuals show reduced effort mobilization for obtaining a social reward

Past research on reduced reward responsiveness in depression and dysphoria has mainly focused on monetary rewards. However, social rewards are important motivators and might be especially impaired in depression. The present study tested the hypothesis that nondysphoric individuals would mobilize more effort during a memory task without a clear performance standard when anticipating social approval for good performance. In contrast, dysphoric individuals were expected to be less sensitive to this reward and to mobilize less effort. Effort mobilization in this 2 (dysphoric vs. nondysphoric) × 2 (no reward vs. social approval) between-persons study was operationalized by participants’ cardiovascular reactivity. Results confirmed that nondysphorics had higher reactivity of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate when expecting to enter their name in the alleged “best list”, whereas dysphorics had lower cardiovascular reactivity. The present study expands evidence for reduced reward responsiveness in depression and dysphoria from an effort mobilization perspective by demonstrating reduced effort-related cardiovascular reactivity to social rewards.     

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.     

Verbal and pictorial elaborations enhance memory in younger and older adults

Abstract

These studies examined the facilitative role of verbal and pictorial elaborations in younger and older adults' recall of verbal material. During acquisition, subjects studied short sentences under one of several encoding/retrieval conditions where the presence of verbal and pictorial elaborations was systematically varied. Subjects later recalled the target adjectives, given the sentence frames as a prompt. In Experiment 1, explanatory verbal elaborations at study and test enhanced verbal recall for both age groups, but no benefit of pictorial elaborations was observed. In Experiment 2, pictorial elaborations improved recall for both age groups. A significant Age x Encoding Condition interaction effect revealed that the benefit was especially pronounced for the older adults. the implications of these results for understanding the facilitative effects of pictorial illustrations on older adults. recall of verbal material are discussed.     

Lending a hand to signed language acquisition: Enactment and iconicity enhance sign recall in hearing adult American Sign Language learners

Abstract

Evidence over the last 15 years has suggested that dual (imagery and verbal) coding explanations of concreteness effects in memory for word lists do not generalise well to memory for sentences and paragraphs. In contrast, an alternative framework based on relative differences in relational and distinctive processing has been shown to account for the effects of imagery and concreteness in these contexts and others. This paper describes recent research on free and cued recall of word lists and evaluates it with respect to the two models. The evidence suggests that whereas dual processing systems may be involved in the encoding of verbal materials, dual memory codes are insufficient to explain concreteness effects in recall. Better memory for high-as compared to low-imagery words depends on the use of paradigms that facilitate inter-item relational processing, independent of whether or not imagery is involved.     

Am I blue? Depressed mood and the consequences of self-focus for the interpretation and recall of ambiguous words

In two experiments, dysphoric and nondysphoric students first concentrated on either self-focused or other-focused phrases and then performed an ostensibly unrelated task involving the interpretation of homographs with both personal and impersonal meanings. In Experiment 1, they constructed sentences for the homographs; dysphoric students' sentences were more emotionally negative (although not more personal) in the self-focused condition than in the other-focused condition. In Experiment 2, they freely associated to the homographs, and the percentage of personal meanings reflected by the associations revealed an effect of self versus other focus that depended on mood group. Following free associations, they attempted to recall the homographs. Dysphoric students (but not nondysphoric students) recalled a greater percentage of personally interpreted homographs if they had focused on self than if they had focused on other matters. In general, these results suggest that ruminative or self-focused thinking by people in depressed moods transfers to novel ambiguous situations, encouraging more negative interpretations and better recall of personal interpretations.     

The mnemonic effect of speech gestures: Pantomimic and non-pantomimic gestures compared

Abstract

A video-taped model presented subjects with sets of sentences to be free-recalled. under three presentation conditions: (1) accompanied by pantomimic gestures; (2) accompanied by non-pantomimic gestures; and (3) no gestures present. When the sentences formed a narrative, the gestures did not affect recall. When the sentences were unconnected, recall was higher for the gestured than for tbe non-gestured sentences. The pantomimic and non-pantomimic gestures showed about the same mnemonic effect. The subjects were given a second test, either recall-cued by the gestures, or else free recall of the gestured Sentences only. The pantomimic conditions were superior to the non-pantomimic conditions in both these tests. Possible explanations for the mnemonic effects of the gestures are discussed.     

The Interaction of Mood and Rumination in Depression: Effects on Mood Maintenance and Mood-Congruent Autobiographical Memory

Rumination is a response to distress in which individuals focus repetitively on their feelings and the causes and consequences of those feelings. When induced to ruminate, dysphorics exhibit more negative mood and recall more negative memories, but these effects are not seen in nondysphorics. This pattern of results could be due to trait-like differences between dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals, or to the high levels of negative affect that dysphorics are experiencing at the time of rumination. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of pre-rumination mood on post-rumination mood and subsequent memory. Participants scoring high or low in depressive symptoms were assigned to either a positive or negative emotion induction prior to ruminating and completing an autobiographical memory task. Analysis of self-reported mood indicates that both emotion inductions were effective. Surprisingly, all participants returned to baseline mood levels following the rumination induction, and emotion induction had no effect on the negativity of the memories recalled. Dysphorics recalled significantly more negative memories than nondysphorics, regardless of whether positive, neutral, or negative memories were specifically prompted. Our results indicated that the prolonged experience of dysphoria may have greater effects on post-rumination mood and memory than the transitory experience of sadness.     

The self-choice elaboration effects on incidental memory of Japanese historical facts

The subjects performed an orienting task involving 3 conditions, followed by unexpected tests which included free recall, name-matching and name-selec tion. Conditions were designed to force self-generated elaboration, self-choice elaboration, and experimenter-provided elaboration. In the self-generated elaboration condition, subjects were presented target sentences, e.g., Nobunaga ODA burned down ENRYAKUJI Temple, and asked to answer an elaborative interrogation, e.g., Why did Nobunaga ODA burn down ENRYAKUJI Temple? about each sentence. In the self-choice elaboration condition, subjects selected one of the alternative answers to an elaborative interrogation about each sentence. In the experimenter provided elaboration condition, subjects were presented an answer which they rated for congruity as the correct answer to the elaborative interrogation. In the free recall test, self generated elaboration led to better performance than the other two conditions for which no difference was observed. However, in the name-matching and name-selection tests, scores were better for self choice elaboration and self-generated elaboration than for experimenter-provided elaboration. These results were interpreted as demonstrating that self choice elaboration, in addition to self-generated elaboration, led to effective encoding in memory.     

Moderators of Mood-congruent Encoding and Judgement: Evidence that Elated and Depressed Moods Implicate Distinct Processes

An experiment investigated the contributions of elaborative processes to mood-congruent encoding (MCE) and judgement (MCJ) of trait adjectives that referred to the self and two others. Evidence from multiple sources (recall, judgement, decision latency) supported the main hypotheses: Elated mood produces MCE/MCJ through elaborative processes that implicate mood-congruent self-schemata; depressed mood produces MCE/MCJ through elaborative, but nonschematically based, processing of self-referent material; and, elated mood produces MCJ (but not MCE) of positive material that referred to the experimenter through simplified or heuristic (rather than elaborative) processing. The hypothesis that elated mood produces MCE/ MCJ through elaborative, but nonschematically based, processing of friendreferent material did not receive support; instead, the results suggested that mood-congruent schemata about the friend also contributed to both the encoding and judgement effects of elated mood.     

The Relation of ERP Components to Complex Memory Processing

The relation between various ERP components generated during encoding of a word and its subsequent recall were investigated using a “rote” serial-order and an “elaborative” category memory task. Words (flashed separately) were time-locked to EEG recordings from 21 cortical sites. ERP components from the five subjects having the highest recall scores were compared to the five lowest scoring subjects. Results based on the P200 peak amplitude data as well as the N400 and late positive component peak amplitude and latency data suggest that anterior and posterior distributional differences are elicited during encoding of words for rote and elaborative memory tasks. Furthermore, strong individual differences in these patterns were found as a function of task. A tentative argument was made that the obtained anterior and posterior differences may index different word feature selection and encoding processes, which are differentially utilized by high and low recallers.     

Recall of aggressive and withdrawn statements among young children: Social schema or meaningfulness

Two studies assessed the effects of type of sentence (aggressive vs. withdrawn) and meaningfulness level on the sentence recall of young children. In Study 1, normative data showed that the meaningfulness value of aggressive sentences was greater than that of withdrawn sentences and that meaningfulness and recall were positively related. In Study 2, subjects were tested for sentence recall in a 2 (aggressive vs. withdrawn sentences) x 2 (high vs. low meaningfulness)within subjects design. The sole significant effect was meaningfulness, with the superior recall of high relative to low meaningful sentences. Results are interpreted through a knowledge base model. This research was supported by the Wake Forest University Research and Publication Fund. Experiment 1 was presented at the 1988 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, GA, and Experiment 2 was presented at the 1991 annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, DC.     

Recall of aggressive and withdrawn statements among young children: Social schema or meaningfulness

Two studies assessed the effects of type of sentence (aggressive vs. withdrawn) and meaningfulness level on the sentence recall of young children. In Study 1, normative data showed that the meaningfulness value of aggressive sentences was greater than that of withdrawn sentences and that meaningfulness and recall were positively related. In Study 2, subjects were tested for sentence recall in a 2 (aggressive vs. withdrawn sentences) x 2 (high vs. low meaningfulness)within subjects design. The sole significant effect was meaningfulness, with the superior recall of high relative to low meaningful sentences. Results are interpreted through a knowledge base model. This research was supported by the Wake Forest University Research and Publication Fund. Experiment 1 was presented at the 1988 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, GA, and Experiment 2 was presented at the 1991 annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, DC.     

Information processing in reading-disabled and nondisabled children

Reading disabled and nondisabled children (13-14 years of age) were presented lists of 10 words each at different rates (one word per 1, 2, and 4 sec), and immediately after the last word of each list they recalled the words in any order. Recall of the first few words presented from each list (the primacy effect) was lower in reading-disabled than nondisabled children, and slower presentation rates increased the primacy effect in both groups. These findings suggest that reading-disabled children are not completely failing to use elaborative encoding but are using less effective elaborative encoding than nondisabled readers. With all presentation rates, recall of the last few words (the recency effect) was comparable in both groups, suggesting that older reading-disabled children encode and recognize the stimuli and that elaborative encoding is deficient in reading-disabled in spite of adequate stimulus encoding and recognition.     

The effects of suppressing a negative autobiographical memory on concurrent intrusions and subsequent autobiographical recall in dysphoria

Depressed individuals endeavor to suppress intrusive thoughts and memories as a form of mood control. Two predictions from this literature were examined. The 1st was that attempts to suppress a preselected negative memory during a stream-of-consciousness (SOC) task in dysphoric individuals, relative to a no-suppress condition, would lead to relatively speeded access to other negative but not positive memories on a subsequent cue-word recall task. No such effects were predicted for nondysphoric controls. The 2nd prediction was that, across all participants who were asked to suppress memories, higher levels of depressed mood would be associated with more intrusions of the to-be-suppressed memory during the SOC and that this association would be stronger than the comparable relation in participants who were not asked to suppress memories. Results support both predictions.