Date of Award

5-2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Karina Hamamouche

Second Advisor

Brian Day

Abstract

This study explored the effect of mood on memory. The experiment tested how emotional states (happiness, anger, and sadness) influence working memory capacity. There were a total of 33 participants (11 in each mood condition). The participants underwent a seven-minute mood induction process that required participants to write about a personal experience that was either happy, angry, or sad (matched to their mood condition). Then, each participant was instructed to complete a complex working memory task, which involved learning a set of words (varying in length from 3 to 7 words), completing a math problem, and then verbally recalling the list of words in the correct order to the moderator. We predicted that those assigned to the happy and angry mood conditions would show greater working memory capacity compared to those in the sad mood condition. After analyzing the results, the mood manipulation check revealed no significant effect of condition on mood, suggesting that mood was not successfully induced. The results revealed no effect of mood on partial memory scores, which entailed giving participants credit even if the words were listed out of order. Additionally, results suggested no effect of mood on full-memory scores, which entailed giving participants credit only when the word and it’s order was correct. Overall, the experiment revealed no significant effect of mood on verbal working memory capacity.

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