Mood Effects on Memory

Forty-eight subjects were given a questionnaire testing their memory for objects in a picture and a computerized navigation task testing their ability to remember and follow navigation instructions while they were in both a happy mood and a sad mood. Music and an object finding task were used to manipulate their mood. The Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was used to verify their mood in each condition. The hypothesis was that subjects would do better and be more efficient on both tasks when they are in a good mood. The results did not yield significant main effects of mood on either task, but they did verify that the music and object finding task changed the subjects’ mood as expected and they suggested more improvement on the navigation task in the sad than in the happy mood