Mood Induction Procedure Research Articles

Mood-congruent recollection and anosognosia in Alzheimer's disease

The aim of the study was to investigate experimentally the impact of current mood state on anosognosia or awareness of symptoms in AD patients, in which mood state was manipulated by giving tasks that were either easy (success condition) or very difficult (failure condition). Twenty-two patients with mild to moderate AD participated. Four success-failure manipulation (SFM) computerized tasks were used as mood induction procedures, two based on reaction time tasks and the other on memory tasks. Level of awareness and the current mood state were assessed before and after each task, using a modified version of the Anosognosia Questionnaire for Dementia and a self-reported questionnaire respectively. For both types of task, the results indicate that the emotional state of the participants was similar before performing the tasks and that only the failure conditions induced a negative mood state. Additionally, regarding the level of awareness, there were no significant differences after the reaction time tasks but for the memory tasks, there was greater awareness of symptoms after performing the task in the failure condition. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first exploring experimentally the impact of mood on anosognosia in AD. The results showed an improvement of awareness of symptoms after negative mood induction, but only when the task used in the SFM was memory-based.

Effects of mood state on impulsivity in pathological buying

Pathological buying is characterized by irrepressible buying behaviour and its negative consequences. A possible mechanism contributing to its development and maintenance is that buying episodes act as a maladaptive strategy to cope with negative emotions. Accordingly, pathological buying has been repeatedly associated with impulsivity, in particular with the tendency to experience strong reactions under negative affect. Relying on an experimental mood induction procedure, the present study tested in a sample of 100 individuals (a) whether individuals with pathological buying symptoms respond more impulsively in the Go/No-Go Task (as a measure of the behavioural inhibition aspect of impulsivity) and (b) whether this association is more pronounced in a negative mood. While controlling for comorbidities, the results show that pathological buying is associated with faster responses and a larger number of commission errors. Moreover, a significant interaction indicated that the association between pathological buying and performance the Go/No-Go Task was stronger in the negative mood condition. The present study thus shows that pathological buying is associated with deficits in the behavioural inhibition component of impulsivity. These deficits are most pronounced when mood is negative; in turn, this provides an explanation for the occurrence of excessive buying episodes following negative affect.

Inducing Sadness and Anxiousness through Visual Media: Measurement Techniques and Persistence.

The persistence of negative moods (sadness and anxiousness) induced by three visual Mood Induction Procedures (MIP) was investigated. The evolution of the mood after the MIP was monitored for a period of 8 min with the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM; every 2 min) and with recordings of skin conductance level (SCL) and electrocardiography (ECG). The SAM pleasure ratings showed that short and longer film fragments were effective in inducing a longer lasting negative mood, whereas the negative mood induced by the IAPS slideshow was short lived. The induced arousal during the anxious MIPs diminished quickly after the mood induction; nevertheless, the SCL data suggest longer lasting arousal effects for both movies. The decay of the induced mood follows a logarithmic function; diminishing quickly in the first minutes, thereafter returning slowly back to baseline. These results reveal that caution is needed when investigating the effects of the induced mood on a task or the effect of interventions on induced moods, because the induced mood diminishes quickly after the mood induction.

Negative mood disrupts self- and reward-biases in perceptual matching.

There are established effects of self- and reward-biases even on simple perceptual matching tasks [Sui, J., He, X., & Humphreys, G. W. (2012). Perceptual effects of social salience: Evidence from self-prioritization effects on perceptual matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception and Performance, 38, 1105-1117]; however we know little about whether these biases can be modulated by particular interventions, and whether the biases then change in the same way. Here we assessed how the biases alter under conditions designed to induce negative mood. We had participants read a list of self-related negative or neutral mood statements [Velten, E. (1968). A laboratory task for induction of mood states. Behavior Research and Therapy, 6, 473-482] and also listen for 10 min to a passage of negative or neutral music, prior to carrying out perceptual matching with shapes associated to personal labels (self or stranger) or reward (£12 or £1). Responses to the self- and high-reward-associated shapes were selectively slower and less sensitive (d') following the negative mood induction procedures, and the decrease in mood correlated with decreases in the reaction time bias across "high saliency" (self and high-reward) stimuli. We suggest that negative mood may decrease self- and reward-biases through reducing attention to salient external stimuli.

Phenomenological Characteristics of Autobiographical Memories: Responsiveness to an Induced Negative Mood State in Those With and Without a Previous History of Depression.

In this study we investigated the relative accessibility of phenomenological characteristics in autobiographical memories of 104 students with and without a previous history of a depression. Participants recalled personal events that were elicited with cue words and then asked to rate these personal events for a number of phenomenological characteristics. The characteristics were typicality, rumination, valence, importance of others, expectancy, desirability, and personal importance. The effects of previous history of depression (without history or with previous history of depression) and self-reported mood (pre- and post-negative mood induction) on autobiographical recall was examined by employing a mixed factor design. Self-reported mood was measured as a manipulation check, before and after Mood Induction Procedure. Typicality, rumination and personal importance showed significant interaction effects in those with a history of depression. Ordinal regression supported the finding that those with a history of depression had a higher chance of typicality and personal importance than those without a history of depression. The results indicate that recall of autobiographical characteristics is in part dependent on induced negative mood state and on previous history of depression. The findings may prompt future research into targeted interventions that reduce individual tendencies for heightened cognitive reactivity in negative mood states for those with a history of depression.

The Method of Loci Improves Longer-Term Retention of Self-Affirming Memories and Facilitates Access to Mood-Repairing Memories in Recurrent Depression

The Method-of-Loci (MoL) is a mnemonic strategy that individuals with a history of depression can use to facilitate access to self-affirming memories. In the current study, we investigated (a) the utility of the MoL to enhance access to a preidentified set of personal memories and (b) the ability of the MoL to facilitate the recollection of memories to regulate emotion. Participants in remission from chronic depression used a MoL or rehearsal procedure to facilitate memory recall. Participants using the MoL showed superior retention of this material at both a 1-week and 3-month follow-up memory test, relative to the rehearsal group. For both groups, memory recall effectively repaired mood after a mood induction procedure. Using a diary measure, participants trained to use the MoL reported greater use of the memory repository to offset downturns in mood in day-to-day life, indicating that this could be a useful strategy for mood regulation.

Effects of brief mindful acceptance induction on implicit dysfunctional attitudes and concordance between implicit and explicit dysfunctional attitudes

Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to be effective in alleviating depressive symptoms. While much work has examined the effects of mindfulness training on subjective symptoms and experiences, and less is known regarding whether mindfulness training may alter relatively uncontrollable cognitive processes associated with depressed mood, particularly implicit dysfunctional attitudes. The present study examined the effects of a brief mindful acceptance induction on implicit dysfunctional attitudes and degree of concordance between implicit and explicit dysfunctional attitudes in the context of sad mood. A total of 79 adult participants with elevated depressive symptoms underwent an autobiographical mood induction procedure before being randomly assigned to mindful acceptance or thought wandering inductions. Results showed that the effect of mindful acceptance on implicit dysfunctional attitude was significantly moderated by trait mindfulness. Participants high on trait mindfulness demonstrated significant improvements in implicit dysfunctional attitudes following the mindful acceptance induction. Those low on trait mindfulness demonstrated significantly worse implicit dysfunctional attitudes following the induction. Significantly greater levels of concordance between implicit and explicit dysfunctional attitudes were observed in the mindful acceptance condition versus the thought wandering condition. The findings highlight changes in implicit dysfunctional attitudes and improvements in self-concordance as two potential mechanisms underlying the effects of mindfulness-based interventions.

Remembering the Good Ole Days: Fear of Positive Emotion Relates to Affect Repair Using Positive Memories

Recalling positive autobiographical memories is a powerful strategy to repair affect. Positive memory recall operates as a reparative strategy by enhancing positive affect, which facilitates the down-regulation of negative affect. There are individual differences, however, in the ability to use positive material to repair mood. Participants with elevated depression scores, for example, are less likely to profit from this strategy. Depression has been associated with elevated fear of positive emotion and the current study examined whether elevated fear of positive emotion is associated with depression-related difficulties in mood repair. Ninety-four participants first underwent a mood repair task in which a sad mood induction was followed by a cue to recall positive autobiographical memories. Subjective measures of state happiness and sadness were collected across the mood induction and positive memory recall procedures. Results revealed that greater fear of positive emotion was linked to less ability to enhance positive affect and down-regulate negative affect using positive memories. Results also provided preliminary support for a mediation model in which greater depressive symptoms predicted elevated fear of positive emotion, which in turn predicted less ability to repair positive affect. These findings highlight fear of positive emotion as a potential target for interventions aimed at improving affect regulation.

Do responses to Positive Affect Influence Mood Reactivity? Exploring Cognitive Response Styles through a Mood Induction Procedure

Cognitive responses to positive affect (PA) are interesting in the context of emotion dysregulation and emotion disorders. Previous research mainly focused on ruminative responses to negative affect in relation to psychopathology. The aim of this study was to explore the interaction between cognitive response styles as measured with the Responses to Positive Affect questionnaire (RPA) and changes in emotional state during an experimental manipulation in a non-clinical sample. Using a pre-test post-test design, Swedish undergraduate students (n = 60) were randomized into either a mood induction procedure designed to evoke positive mood or a control condition. Results revealed that the two positive rumination subscales of the RPA were associated with each other and with PA. However, none of the RPA subscales interacted with participants’ mood reactivity, thus meaning that cognitive response styles did not predict changes in mood as the participants were exposed to a mood induction procedure. The results postulate new questions on the conceptualization and functioning of cognitive response styles, as their role concerning reactivity to elevated mood states remain unclear.

Bodily action penetrates affective perception.

Fantoni & Gerbino (2014) showed that subtle postural shifts associated with reaching can have a strong hedonic impact and affect how actors experience facial expressions of emotion. Using a novel Motor Action Mood Induction Procedure (MAMIP), they found consistent congruency effects in participants who performed a facial emotion identification task after a sequence of visually-guided reaches: a face perceived as neutral in a baseline condition appeared slightly happy after comfortable actions and slightly angry after uncomfortable actions. However, skeptics about the penetrability of perception (Zeimbekis & Raftopoulos, 2015) would consider such evidence insufficient to demonstrate that observer’s internal states induced by action comfort/discomfort affect perception in a top-down fashion. The action-modulated mood might have produced a back-end memory effect capable of affecting post-perceptual and decision processing, but not front-end perception.Here, we present evidence that performing a facial emotion detection (not identification) task after MAMIP exhibits systematic mood-congruent sensitivity changes, rather than response bias changes attributable to cognitive set shifts; i.e., we show that observer’s internal states induced by bodily action can modulate affective perception. The detection threshold for happiness was lower after fifty comfortable than uncomfortable reaches; while the detection threshold for anger was lower after fifty uncomfortable than comfortable reaches. Action valence induced an overall sensitivity improvement in detecting subtle variations of congruent facial expressions (happiness after positive comfortable actions, anger after negative uncomfortable actions), in the absence of significant response bias shifts. Notably, both comfortable and uncomfortable reaches impact sensitivity in an approximately symmetric way relative to a baseline inaction condition. All of these constitute compelling evidence of a genuine top-down effect on perception: specifically, facial expressions of emotion are penetrable by action-induced mood. Affective priming by action valence is a candidate mechanism for the influence of observer’s internal states on properties experienced as phenomenally objective and yet loaded with meaning.

Reactivity at different levels of cognitive analysis: products versus operations.

C reactivity refers to the extent to which a (mild) negative or sad mood reactivates or triggers negative cognitive factors as observed in clinical depression.1 In this issue, Figueroa and colleagues2 report that cognitive reactivity, as measured by the Leiden Index of Depression Sensitivity (LEIDS), is a long-term predictor of depressive relapse. The authors highlight that 1 important avenue for future research is to examine whether psychological interventions can improve (ie, decrease or reduce) cognitive reactivity scores. I would like to bring to the authors’ and readers’ attention a recent study by Van der Gucht and colleagues,3 which examined that very question while providing preliminary evidence that psychological treatment can indeed reduce cognitive reactivity. In a study that offered a mindfulnessbased intervention to low-income urban adults, cognitive reactivity was measured 4 times using the LEIDS: twice before the intervention (double baseline with 8-week waiting-list period in-between), immediately after the 8-week mindfulness-based intervention (postintervention), and 3 months after treatment completion (follow-up). Cognitive reactivity scores significantly improved from pretreatment to follow-up with a medium effect size (d = 0.69). Importantly, no change in cognitive reactivity scores was observed during the waiting-list interval. That mindfulness-based interventions help reduce cognitive reactivity levels makes sense, as their central aim is to tackle cognitive reactivity by helping people to recognize mood-dependent reactive tendencies and to switch to a nonreactive mode of mind.4 An earlier study by Kuyken and colleagues5 found that mindfulness-based intervention completers showed higher levels of cognitive reactivity than controls, but here, cognitive reactivity was solely assessed postintervention. Also, and most interestingly, the authors used a moodinduction procedure with assessment of pre–post change in dysfunctional cognitions and not the LEIDS to examine cognitive reactivity.5 Figueroa et al2 rightly argue in this issue that a mood-induction procedure might not be a very stable method to assess cognitive reactivity, which would then explain the opposite results as reported by Van der Gucht and

Virtual reality and stimulation of touch and smell for inducing relaxation: A randomized controlled trial

The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of a mood-induction procedure in a Virtual Reality (VR-MIP) environment for inducing relaxation and generating sense of presence, and to test whether the stimulation of the senses of touch and smell improves the efficacy of this VR-MIP. A controlled study was carried out with four experimental conditions. All of them included the VR-MIP to induce relaxation, but varying the senses stimulated. The sample consisted of 136 participants randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions. Emotions and sense of presence were evaluated. The results showed statistical differences before and after mood-induction and a high sense of presence in all groups. However, no statistical differences were found among the four groups on emotions and sense of presence. The results showed that the VR-MIP was effective; however, the stimulation of the senses of touch and smell did not show significate improve of the mood-induction or the sense of presence. It was identified a trend in favor of the groups where the sense of touch was stimulated, they seemed more relaxed and the sense of presence was higher. We hypothesized that the stimulation of sense of touch, could improve the efficacy when using VR-MIP because it provides more sensory information.

Happiness in action: the impact of positive affect on the time of the conscious intention to act.

The temporal relationship between our conscious intentions to act and the action itself has been widely investigated. Previous research consistently shows that the motor intention enters awareness a few 100 ms before movement onset. As research in other domains has shown that most behavior is affected by the emotional state people are in, it is remarkable that the role of emotional states on intention awareness has never been investigated. Here we tested the hypothesis that positive and negative affects have opposite effects on the temporal relationship between the conscious intention to act and the action itself. A mood induction procedure that combined guided imagery and music listening was employed to induce positive, negative, or neutral affective states. After each mood induction session, participants were asked to execute voluntary self-paced movements and to report when they formed the intention to act. Exposure to pleasant material, as compared to exposure to unpleasant material, enhanced positive affect and dampened negative affect. Importantly, in the positive affect condition participants reported their intention to act earlier in time with respect to action onset, as compared to when they were in the negative or in the neutral affect conditions. Conversely the reported time of the intention to act when participants experienced negative affect did not differ significantly from the neutral condition. These findings suggest that the temporal relationship between the conscious intention to act and the action itself is malleable to changes in affective states and may indicate that positive affect enhances intentional awareness.

From specificity to sensitivity: affective states modulate visual working memory for emotional expressive faces.

Previous findings suggest that visual working memory (VWM) preferentially remembers angry looking faces. However, the meaning of facial actions is construed in relation to context. To date, there are no studies investigating the role of perceiver-based context when processing emotional cues in VWM. To explore the influence of affective context on VWM for faces, we conducted two experiments using both a VWM task for emotionally expressive faces and a mood induction procedure. Affective context was manipulated by unpleasant (Experiment 1) and pleasant (Experiment 2) IAPS pictures in order to induce an affect high in motivational intensity (defensive or appetitive, respectively) compared to a low arousal control condition. Results indicated specifically increased sensitivity of VWM for angry looking faces in the neutral condition. Enhanced VWM for angry faces was prevented by inducing affects of high motivational intensity. In both experiments, affective states led to a switch from specific enhancement of angry expressions in VWM to an equally sensitive representation of all emotional expressions. Our findings demonstrate that emotional expressions are of different behavioral relevance for the receiver depending on the affective context, supporting a functional organization of VWM along with flexible resource allocation. In VWM, stimulus processing adjusts to situational requirements and transitions from a specifically prioritizing default mode in predictable environments to a sensitive, hypervigilant mode in exposure to emotional events.

Trait Anticipatory Pleasure Predicts Effort Expenditure for Reward.

Research in motivation and emotion has been increasingly influenced by the perspective that processes underpinning the motivated approach of rewarding goals are distinct from those underpinning enjoyment during reward consummation. This distinction recently inspired the construction of the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS), a self-report measure that distinguishes trait anticipatory pleasure (pre-reward feelings of desire) from consummatory pleasure (feelings of enjoyment and gratification upon reward attainment). In a university community sample (N = 97), we examined the TEPS subscales as predictors of (1) the willingness to expend effort for monetary rewards, and (2) affective responses to a pleasant mood induction procedure. Results showed that both anticipatory pleasure and a well-known trait measure of reward motivation predicted effort-expenditure for rewards when the probability of being rewarded was relatively low. Against expectations, consummatory pleasure was unrelated to induced pleasant affect. Taken together, our findings provide support for the validity of the TEPS anticipatory pleasure scale, but not the consummatory pleasure scale.

Trauma‐related rumination mediates the effect of naturally occurring depressive symptoms but not momentary low mood on trauma intrusions

Comorbid depression is known to contribute to the maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) including distressing intrusive trauma memories. It is theorised that depression is a risk factor for persistent PTSD through preventing optimal habituation of distress provoked by trauma memories and reminders, but the underlying cognitive mechanisms responsible are uncertain. The present study investigated trauma‐related rumination as a possible mediator for the effect of depression on trauma intrusions. Participants received a low mood induction or control procedure. Following viewing an analogue trauma film, frequency of film‐related intrusions and associated distress levels were measured and at 1‐week follow‐up. Between the two occasions, participants rated their levels of rumination about the film. Existing depression symptoms but not induced momentary sad mood predicted frequency of film intrusions and associated distress at 1‐week follow‐up. Some evidence was found that ruminative trauma processing mediated the relationship between baseline depressive symptoms and later intrusion frequency and associated distress. Future research is warranted to better understand the role of rumination in the depression–intrusion relationship, which may shed light on the clinical applicability of rumination‐targeted intervention for PTSD and comorbid depression.

Is virtual reality emotionally arousing? Investigating five emotion inducing virtual park scenarios

Following the idea of using virtual environments (VEs) as mood induction procedures (MIPs), this study set out to examine whether five different virtual park scenarios would each elicit a specific affective state (i.e., joy, sadness, boredom, anger and anxiety). Within this main objective, a subset of two additional goals was identified: first, to analyze whether the sense of presence would differ across emotionally charged VEs, and second, to examine the link between a more objective measure of affective arousal, electrodermal activity (EDA), and presence. Following a between-subject design, 120 students were randomly assigned to one of the five VEs. Results show that almost all of the five virtual park scenarios were able to elicit the intended emotion. Additionally, presence levels were the same across all VEs suggesting that presence did not confound the emotional reaction to the VEs. Furthermore, EDA seems to be a poor indicator of presence as it is not significantly correlated with self-reported presence. The implications of these findings for both future research and practice are addressed in a comprehensive discussion.

Internally and externally generated emotions in people with acquired brain injury: preservation of emotional experience after right hemisphere lesions.

The study of emotional changes after brain injury has contributed enormously to the understanding of the neural basis of emotion. However, little attention has been placed on the methods used to elicit emotional responses in people with brain damage. Of particular interest are subjects with right hemisphere [RH] cortical lesions, who have been described as presenting impairment in emotional processing. In this article, an internal and external mood induction procedure [MIP] was used to trigger positive and negative emotions, in a sample of 10 participants with RH damage, and 15 healthy controls. Emotional experience was registered by using a self-report questionnaire. As observed in previous studies, internal and external MIPs were equally effective in eliciting the target emotion, but the internal procedure generated higher levels of intensity. Remarkably, participants with RH lesions were equally able to experience both positive and negative affect. The results are discussed in relation to the role of the RH in the capacity to experience negative emotions.

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Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: deliberately, in the present moment, without judging. Currently mindfulness research is focusing on the study of the working mechanisms. In this regard, training in mindfulness has proved effective in improving skills of Emotion Regulation (eR). The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between mindfulness (trait) and access to emotion regulation strategies. A total of 60 students participated, recruited from the Jaume I University and the UniverAG OR A DE SALU T I ISSN: 2443-9827. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6035/AgoraSalut.2015.1.9 pp. 127-138 128 AGORA DE SALUT. VOL. I. ISSN: 2443-9827. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.6035/AgoraSalut.2015.1.9 pp. 127-138 sity of Valencia. Following questionnaires were completed: Beck Depression Inventory, Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire, Visual Analog Scale and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. A Mood Induction Procedure (mIP) using Virtual Reality (VR) of sadness was used before to autobiographical memory task. The results shows that participants high in mindfulness (trait) have more eR strategies than the lower (F=13,194; p=.001). Furthermore, high group takes less time to access eR strategies with positive valence words (F=4,980; p=.035). The result of this study shows the importance of eR as one of the mechanisms on which mindfulness could be interacting.

Cognitive Reactivity to a Depressive Mood Induction Procedure Across Diagnostic Categories

The concepts of cognitive vulnerability and cognitive reactivity are central to cognitive models of depression. These concepts have been extensively examined using mood priming methodology. Research has largely examined cognitive reactivity in individuals theoretically vulnerable to depression and based on self-reported dysfunctional attitudes as a primary index of cognitive vulnerability. The current research was designed to expand the examination of cognitive reactivity through mood priming methodology with regard to assessment of cognitive reactivity and clinical populations examined. This study examined the specificity of cognitive reactivity in the form of self-reported automatic thoughts, dysfunctional attitudes, and rumination to individuals with a history of depression compared to a clinical control group of currently anxious participants and a control sample. The primary results indicated specificity in cognitive reactivity, in the form of increased dysfunctional attitudes and rumination for only the previously depressed participants. These results extend previous research by suggesting specificity of cognitive reactivity in depression compared not only to a nonclinical control sample, which is typically employed in mood priming research, but also compared to a clinical control population. These results are discussed in the context of cognitive models of depression, as are their implications for future theory and research.