Recent studies have indicated stronger mood dependent memory (MDM) effects when
subjects generate both the to-be-remembered events and the cues used in their retrieval, and
when subjects who experience similar moods are compared to subjects who report a change in
both pleasure and arousal, rather than others who report a change in pleasure alone.
The first study was undertaken to experimentally evaluate the relationship between mood
change and memory performance. Specifically, four mood manipulations were developed to
compare memory performance in subjects assigned to no mood change, change in pleasure,
change in arousal, or change in both pleasure and arousal. Subjects generated autobiographical
events in response to neutral nouns, and were tested for free recall and recognition of these
events two days later. Results demonstrated greater memory disruption after change in both
pleasure and arousal than after change in pleasure alone. However, one-dimensional change in
arousal led to as much memory disruption as did change in both dimensions. Separate ANOVAs
compared each mood in combination with each other mood and indicated that MDM was more
strongly supported in some combinations than others. Further, the pattern in free recall was
different from the pattern in recognition indicating that MDM effects may vary interactively
across moods and tasks.
The second study was undertaken to validate prior research by employing subjects who
experience large, but naturally occurring, changes in mood. Patients with rapid-cycling Bipolar
Disorder performed a variety of tasks during study sessions and were tested for implicit and
explicit memory during test sessions. Significant MDM effects were supported in free recall of
autobiographical events and inkblot recognition, but not in implicit category production of
autobiographical event probes, picture fragment completion, explicit nor implicit memory for
letter associates. Results validate MDM as a real world phenomenon that impacts on explicit
memory performance in subjects whose moods are not manipulated.
Discussion centers on prospects for future studies that consider a wider range of
manipulated moods and tasks, theories of emotion, and other clinical groups in the investigation
of MDM.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6753 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Macaulay, Dawn Leigh |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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