Mood-congruent memory was investigated as a function of the structure of the information to be remembered (categorical vs. isolated) and the participant's arousal (stimulating drug vs. placebo). Free recall of photographs showing either pleasant or unpleasant scenes was assessed for subjects under positive or neutral mood states, induced by the imagination of emotional experiences under relaxation. Although the arousal manipulation did not affect the recall performance, the findings highlight the importance of the information structure: a mood-congruency effect was obtained for the isolated pictures; however, the effect did not appear for categorical material, suggesting that structural constraints on the recall process can override the influence of mood on memory. Interestingly, the subject's evaluations of the pictures also shifted toward their mood states. A general recall advantage of positive mood was observed.
The research underlying the present article was supported by a grant (Fi 294/2-3) from the Deutsche Forschungemeinschaft. The authors thank Gun Semin for his many helpful comments. Requests for repnnts should be sent to the first author.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.