Abstract
Attention is a limited resource, and in order to improve processing of the attended information, competing processes must be suppressed. Although it is well established that an experimentally induced change in mood state comprises one type of competing process that can impair performance on a subsequent task, no study has investigated whether an emotionally valenced autobiographical memory (AM) also can alter performance on a subsequent task. We therefore examined the effects of AM recall on cognitive performance. Healthy participants (n = 20 per experiment) recalled AMs in response to positive, negative, and neutral cue words. Following each AM participants completed a simple perceptual task (Experiment 1) or solved moderately difficult subtraction problems (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 participants performed less accurately following exposure to positive or negative versus neutral cue words (ps < 0.001), and also were less accurate following negative versus positive cue words (p < 0.001). In Experiment 2, in contrast, no difference in accuracy or response times reached statistical significance. Performance accuracy even trended toward being higher following exposure to negative versus neutral cue words (p = 0.08). The results of Experiment 1 suggested that recalling emotionally salient AMs reduces the attention directed toward a simple continuous performance task administered immediately following the AM task, conceivably due to persistent contemplation of the AM. The negative results of Experiment 2 suggested that the effect of AMs on attention was attenuated, however, by increasing the difficulty of the subsequent task. Our results have implications for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), as performing cognitively demanding tasks may allow them to attenuate the impairing effects of negative rumination on cognition.
Highlights
Attention is a limited resource, and in order to improve processing of the attended information, competing processes must be suppressed (Posner and Peterson, 1990; Posner, 1995)
Performance accuracy was reduced to a greater extent following autobiographical memory (AM) cued by positive words than following those cued by neutral words
GENERAL DISCUSSION The results of Experiment 2 support the hypothesis that more difficult tasks reduce the performance deficit induced by AM recall, as demonstrated by no difference in performance following AM recall in response to the differently valenced cue words on a moderately difficult subtraction task
Summary
Attention is a limited resource, and in order to improve processing of the attended information, competing processes must be suppressed (Posner and Peterson, 1990; Posner, 1995). When such a competing process is not successfully suppressed, performance is impaired on subsequent attention-demanding tasks. Impaired cognitive performance following positive mood induction has been demonstrated in tasks involving working memory as assessed using digit span, spatial planning as measured using the Tower of Hanoi task, and attention as evaluated using the Stroop task. Impaired performance following negative mood induction has been reported on tasks of working memory and spatial planning
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
