Titel
The Influence of Mood on List-Method Directed Forgetting of Valenced Material
AutorInnen
Bernardo, J., Hammerton, H., Roos, L., Runte, M., Schmidt, E.
Abstract
The directed forgetting (DF) effect is a widely studied phenomenon in cognitive psychology that bears intriguing applications in other areas as well. The present study examined the influence of mood and material valence on directed forgetting using the list-method DF paradigm. The main goal of this study was to examine two contrasting findings within the field of directed forgetting: On the one hand Bäuml and Kuhbandner (2009) state that positive mood eliminates DF regardless of the study material’s valence. On the other hand, others have proposed that material valence greatly influences DF (Payne & Corrigan, 2007). Taking the congruency effect (Bower, 1981) into account, we propose an interaction between both participant’s mood and material valence in DF. The present study was designed to test such a prediction. A sample of thirty-one students from Heidelberg University participated in the study. The results did not support our hypotheses, as the typical DF main effect did not emerge in our study. However, the current pattern of results marginally supported an elimination of directed forgetting in positive mood as well as congruency effects in negative mood. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.
Schlagworte
Directed Forgetting, Material Valence, Mood