Mood-dependent Memory

Abstract

A persistent problem in the scientific analysis of mood dependent memory (MDM) has been its apparent unreliability. During the 1970s, many studies succeeded in showing that events encoded in a certain state of affect or mood (such as sadness) are more retrievable in the same state than in a different one (such as happiness). During the 1980s, however, most studies failed to find any evidence of MDM, and attempts to replicate positive results rarely prevailed, even when undertaken by the same investigator using similar materials, tasks, and mood-modification methods. Faced with these conflicting results, researchers in the 1990s focused their efforts on identifying why mood dependence sometimes comes, and sometimes goes. These efforts have paid off, as it now appears that MDM emerges in a clear and consistent manner under conditions in which subjects (a) experience strong, stable, and sincere moods; (b) take responsibility for generating the target events themselves; and (c) also assume responsibility for generating the cues required to retrieve these events. Evidence bearing on each of these factors is reviewed, and prospects for future research are discussed.