Running head: MOOD AND MEMORY
Effects of Mood State on Memory Recall
Travis Comes
Saddleback College
Abstract
This study tested 51 participants to see how individual’s present mood states affected their performance of a simple memory recall task. Researchers hypothesized that, if an individual reported a negative mood state, it would impair their ability to recall a simple set of words. To test this theory, participants were first given a positive and negative affect schedule questionnaire and asked to evaluate the condition of their current mood. Upon completing the questionnaire researchers presented subjects with a slide show that exhibited fifteen common words. Immediately following the slideshow, participants were instructed to recall as many words as they could remember. The results of the experiment did not show any significant correlation between negative mood and memory recall.
Effects of Mood State on Memory Recall
Memory is a fascinating phenomenon that allows people to store, retain and retrieve information, events, and even physical movements. Memory is a crucial part of learning and emotion and plays a significant role in everyone’s daily lives. In learning, memory allows an individual to shape his or her cognitive processes to adjust to a variety of environments and conditions. Because of the strong association between memory and learning, it is important to understand the conditions that effect memory. Previous research has studied the relationship between depression and memory.
Researchers MacQueen, Galaway, Hay, Youn and Joffe investigated the memory recollection deficits in patients with major depressive disorder, and suggest that memory systems reliant on medial temporal lobe structures are impaired in patients with depression. (MacQueen et, al., 2002). The temporal lobe of the brain has long been understood to play a crucial role in memory. (MacQueen et,...