Mood and Memory
Cover Image by huoadg5888 from Pixabay
By Althea Need Kaminske
When I meet with a student to discuss why their performance in a class isn’t where they want it to be, I remind them that there are many factors that affect how well they do in a course. Many of those things are under their control - like using effective learning strategies, setting up study schedules, attending sessions, etc. - but many are not, or at least not always. How much sleep you get, your level of hydration (or dehydration), and even the temperature of the room can all impact your cognitive performance. Our brains - that’s the part that does the thinking - are, for better or worse, part of our bodies (this joke lands really well with medical students studying anatomy). As such there are a vast number of interconnected systems that affect us and our thinking and learning as we move throughout the day. Even your mood can affect your memory and your ability to perform well on an exam.
There are a lot of different ways we could talk about mood and memory. We could talk about your memory for happy vs sad memories, happy vs sad words, fear and memory, trauma and memory, the effects of depression on memory, and more. However, for the purposes of this scenario I want to examine what happens with normal everyday mood. Let’s pretend you have a big test today and your day can go one of two ways. Positive: You find $20 in a winter coat, get a free coffee, and run into an old friend on your way to take the test. Things are going great and you are in a positive mood when you sit for your exam. Negative: While buying coffee you realize that you left your wallet at home and as you are rushing out of your house for the second time that morning you’re pretty sure your neighbor heard you cursing as you drop your keys trying to lock your door. Not once, but twice, you do the awkward dance trying to pass someone coming from the opposite direction. The second time your coffee spills on you. It’s just one of those days and you are in a negative mood when you sit for your exam.
Positive Mood: Broad and Flexible
Being in a good mood has a number of benefits. It generally improves flexibility in thinking, problem solving, and creative thinking (1). A good mood can help you to be more efficient and thorough in your thinking through complex tasks (1). Isen (2008) suggests that we often don’t notice the effects of a good mood because it is both mild and common, making it un-notable. We tend to think a good mood is the status-quo so we don’t ask why we were particularly quick to work through a problem or come up with a creative solution. In general, we likely underestimate how much a good mood plays a role in our thinking.
How does a good mood help? One theory posed by Isen (2008) is that a positive mood encourages more elaboration. People in a positive mood tend to have a broader range of word associates (e.g. how many words can you think of related to ‘table’?) (2). When you’re in a good mood you can elaborate more readily on ideas and make connections. Additionally, a positive mood is also associated with broadened and flexible attention (1). We are generally better at noticing and paying attention to a wider range of details.
The broadened attention and increased cognitive flexibility of a good mood also helps us to remember to do things (3, 4).Prospective memory describes our ability to remember to do things - e.g., “I’ll stop by the store on the way home.”, “Next time I see Anna, I’ll ask about the assignment.” There are two strategies for remembering to do something: either do something after a specific event (e.g., seeing Anna) or at a specific time (e.g., take medicine at 5:00 pm) (5). While being in a good mood generally improves our cognitive performance overall, it may be particularly beneficial for prospective memory tasks that require us to spontaneously notice and remember an action after a specific event (6).
Negative Mood: Withdrawn and Rigid
In contrast to a positive mood, a negative mood tends to come with a number of drawbacks. If a positive mood expands our awareness and makes our thinking more flexible, a negative mood draws our awareness in and makes our thinking more rule-based (7,8). Think of a time you were stressed, sad, or anxious. Did you forget simple things or didn’t notice something in your environment? Maybe you forgot your wallet at home or forgot to turn in an assignment. Why does everything seem to go wrong on those days?
Image by Jackson Moccelin from Pixabay
When you’re in a bad mood, your attention narrows making it more difficult to notice cues in your environment (9) and if you are stressed our thinking is less flexible and more rule-based (8). When you’re in a bad mood you tend to retreat more into your inner world and your thoughts and attention are devoted to ruminating on those negative emotions, increasing your cognitive load (10).
This narrowed attention and focus tends to make it harder to remember to do things (9,10). Because it becomes harder to spontaneously notice events in our environment, it becomes more effortful to remember to do things. Not only are we less able to notice cues in our environment, our cognitive resources are drained. No wonder you forgot to grab your wallet before you left the house!
Mood and You
Your mood can impact how well you notice and remember throughout your day. I hope that being aware of how your mood affects your memory and learning helps you to be more patient with yourself and to set up strategies to offset any negative effects of a bad mood. If you know you have a stressful event coming up, like an important test, recognize that you may not be at your best on the day of the big test or the days leading up to it. Create reminders, set alarms, develop a checklist, pack the night before - set up systems to help you function smoothly on the day of the big test. Mindfulness practices may also help to reduce stress and improve your attention and focus as well.
References
Isen, A. M. (2008). Some ways in which positive affect influences decision making and problem solving. Handbook of Emotions, 3, 548-573.
Isen, A. M., Johnson, M. M. S., Mertz, E., & Robinson, G. F. (1985). The influence of positive affect on the unusualness of word associations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(6), 1413–1426. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.48.6.1413
Schnitzspahn, K. M., Scholz, U., Ballhausen, N., Hering, A., Ihle, A., Lagner, P., & Kliegel, M. (2016). Age differences in prospective memory for everyday life intentions: A diary approach. Memory, 24(4), 444-454. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2015.1018276
Meier, B., von Wartburg, P., Matter, S., Rothen, N., & Reber, R. (2011). Performance predictions improve prospective memory and influence retrieval experience. Canadian journal of experimental psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale, 65(1), 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022784
McDaniels, M. A., & Einstein, G. O. (2000). Strategic and automatic processes in prospective memory retrieval: A multiprocess framework. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 14(SpecIssue), S127–S144. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.775
Fredrickson, B. L., & Cohn, M. A. (2008). Positive emotions. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 777–796). The Guilford Press.
Schnitzspahn, K. M., Horn, S. S., Bayen, U. J., & Kliegel, M. (2012). Age effects in emotional prospective memory: cue valence differentially affects the prospective and retrospective component. Psychology and aging, 27(2), 498–509. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025021
Schwabe, L., Hermans, E. J., Joëls, M., & Roozendaal, B. (2022). Mechanisms of memory under stress. Neuron, 110(9), 1450–1467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2022.02.020
Beck, S. M., Ruge, H., Walser, M., & Goschke, T. (2014). The functional neuroanatomy of spontaneous retrieval and strategic monitoring of delayed intentions. Neuropsychologia, 52, 37–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.10.020
Einstein, G. O., McDaniel, M. A., Thomas, R., Mayfield, S., Shank, H., Morrisette, N., & Breneiser, J. (2005). Multiple Processes in Prospective Memory Retrieval: Factors Determining Monitoring Versus Spontaneous Retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134(3), 327–342.https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.134.3.327
