The influence of induced depressed mood on visual recognition thresholds: Predictive ambiguity of associative network models of mood and cognition

Eighteen undergraduates given a negative mood verbal induction procedure had visual recognition duration thresholds that were significantly lower for dysphoric content words than for elated content words. They also recognized elated content words at briefer exposures than neutral content words, and at briefer exposures than did 18 undergraduates who received a neutral mood induction, who did not show threshold differences across word types. Thus, a negative mood induction procedure facilitated recognition of not only dysphoric content but also elated content stimuli. These findings further demonstrate the breadth of the effects of mood on cognition, and they also demonstrate the predictive ambiguity of associative network models of cognition. © 1988 Plenum Publishing Corporation.

Duke Scholars

Author Clive Justin Robins Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Adult Psychiatry & Psychol ...