Memory in a Mood-Inducing Verbal Learning Task

Abstract

81 subjects exposed to 40 words of one of four emotional tones (pleasant-active, pleasant-inactive, unpleasant-active, unpleasant-inactive) were later exposed to new words of a similar emotional tone on a recognition task. In all four groups, reaction time was greater and false recognitions were more frequent for the new words of matched emotional tone when these were compared with new words of an emotional tone opposite to that of the original list. The authors conclude that learning on a connotative (rather than denotative) level is responsible for this effect.