Memory for facial expression is influenced by the background music playing during study.

Abstract

The effect of the emotional quality of study-phase background music on subsequent recall for happy and sad facial expressions was investigated. Undergraduates (N = 48) viewed a series of line drawings depicting a happy or sad child in a variety of environments that were each accompanied by happy or sad music. Although memory for faces was very accurate, emotionally incongruent background music biased subsequent memory for facial expressions, increasing the likelihood that happy faces were recalled as sad when sad music was previously heard, and that sad faces were recalled as happy when happy music was previously heard. Overall, the results indicated that when recalling a scene, the emotional tone is set by an integration of stimulus features from several modalities.