Mood impairs time-based prospective memory in young but not older adults: The mediating role of attentional control.

Abstract

The present study examined age-by-mood interactions in prospective memory and the potential role of attentional control. Positive, negative, or neutral mood was induced in young and older adults. Subsequent time-based prospective memory performance was tested, incorporating a measure of online attentional control shifts between the ongoing and the prospective memory task via time monitoring behavior. Mood impaired prospective memory in the young, but not older, adults. Moderated mediation analyses showed that mood effects in the young were mediated by changes in time monitoring. Results are discussed in relation to findings from the broader cognitive emotional aging literature.

Comparing Indirect Effects in Different Groups in Single-Group and Multi-Group Structural Equation Models

“…For example, Levant et al (2015) found that the mediation effect of endorsement of masculinity ideology on sleep disturbance symptoms via energy drink use was significantly different between white and racial minority groups. Schnitzspahn et al (2014) found that time monitoring mediated the effect of mood on prospective memory in young adults, but not in old adults. Gelfand et al (2013) showed that the effect of cultural difference (US vs. Taiwan) on the optimality of negotiation outcome is mediated by harmony norm when negotiating as a team but not when negotiating as solos.…”

Eyewitness memory: The impact of a negative mood during encoding and/or retrieval upon recall of a non-emotive event

“…For comparative purposes, it should be noted that neutral moods are slightly higher than the midpoint of the scale (e.g., 6.20) as healthy non-depressive people have a slight positive mood bias (Bless, Schwarz, Clore, Golisano, & Rabe, 1996). We have previously used these same videos and the SAM scale to successfully induce and assess negative and neutral moods (Knott & Thorley, 2014;Schnitzspahn et al, 2014).…”

Prospective Memory in Older Adults: Where We Are Now and What Is Next

“…A first study [27] observed that young, but not older adults showed impaired PM under a sad and happy mood compared to a neutral mood condition. Recently, our group conducted a study testing the effects of acute stress on PM in young and older adults.…”