Abstract
It is already well established that the working memory system can be influenced by moods or emotional stimuli. However, the exact combined impact of these two on the performance of working memory remains a puzzle. To examine the effect that the emotional content of stimuli has on working memory performance, 90 participants performed a 2-back task with emotional content (positive, neutral, and negative words) when they were in a positive, neutral, or negative mood. Repeated-measures ANOVA with mood as between-subjects factor and emotional load as within-subjects factor revealed a main effect of emotional content for both performance accuracy and reaction times in a 2-back task, and a main effect of mood for performance accuracy. Participants reacted significantly faster to negative words independently of their mood state. They were significantly more accurate when they were in the positive mood, but when they processed positive words they were less accurate. Additionally, to test whether loading the working memory system can reset the combined effect of mood and emotional stimuli, we measured the participants’ mood before and after they performed the n-back task; this revealed a significant effect of the n-back task on the mood. Together, these results suggest that although mood and emotional content do have a robust effect on working memory, in some instances combining them does not heighten their individual effects. Moreover, the results also show that participants might be easily distracted from moods by simply performing an n-back task.
Highlights
A 1960s TV series called BStar Trek^ had a very distinctive character: Spock. Besides his very interesting looks, what mainly set him apart from the humans was the fact that neither moods nor emotions had an impact on his cognition, actions, or decision-making (Forgas 2000). Because of this huge role that emotions play in our lives, psychology has devoted a great deal of attention to how mood affects the working memory system
Mood and emotional load have significant effect on the working memory performance, i.e. on the accuracy with which we react to emotional stimuli being in the certain mood and that working memory system would react with different speed dependently of the emotional content of words
In our study we show that words in the positive mood of the participants were processed significantly more accurately compared to other mood states
Summary
A 1960s TV series called BStar Trek^ had a very distinctive character: Spock. Besides his very interesting looks, what mainly set him apart from the humans was the fact that neither moods nor emotions had an impact on his cognition, actions, or decision-making (Forgas 2000). Performance on certain tasks significantly improves when participants are in a positive mood: it facilitates creativity and flexibility and improves moodcongruent recall of memories (Isen et al 1987; Teasdale and Fogarty 1979) It is currently an open question as to whether the modulation of working memory by mood occurs when the emotional content of external stimuli is manipulated. Van Dillen and Koole (2007) showed that performing a working memory task may distract an individual from a negative mood, can reduce anger (Gerin et al 2006; Rusting and Nolen-Hoeksema 1998), or even decrease symptoms of depression in depressed participants (Joormann and Siemer 2004; Morrow and Nolen-Hoeksema 1990). To further test the notion of limited capacity of the working memory system, we tested whether the participants could be distracted from a negative and positive mood after performing an n-back task. Here we decided to use the Cyberball instead of other mood manipulations
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