The effects of mood and content on sentence memory in children

Abstract

This study examined the influence of positive and negative moods on memory in children. Short video clips, happy or sad, were shown to 394 third-grade children to manipulate their mood. Then sentences with positive or negative items were given for a learning task. The sentences had people's name, food or animal as their subject. Cued recall was then assessed with sentence subjects as cues. A mood-congruent effect was observed (a) when children learned sentences about foods or animals in a happy mood, and recalled them with food or animal cues; and (b) when they learned sentences about people's names in a sad mood, and recalled them with food or animal cues. A mood-incongruent effect was found (c) when they learned sentences about people's names in a sad mood, and recalled them with people's name cues. Interestingly, children recalled negative items more frequently than positive ones when they learned sentences with people's names. However, children appeared to be able to suppress such a negativity bias if they could control their mood.