Effects of Emotions and Cognitive Load on Memory

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Effects of Emotions and Cognitive Load on Memory

• Presented at the
• University of California, Irvine
• by
• Namrata Mahajan

May 14, 2005
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Acknowledgements

• Sarah Roper-Coleman, UCI
• Dr. Peter H. Ditto, UCI
• Mentor
• Dr. Valerie Jenness, UCI
• Honors Seminar
• Instructor

• Research Assistants
• Tiffany Fan, UCI
• Allyson Dong, UCI

• Funding
• Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
  (UROP)

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Memory is Important!!!

• - Memory is important to be able to
  function in everyday life!

• Riding a bicycle
• Counting change
• Driving
• Remembering the name of someone you just met

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What is Memory?
Memory is the ability to use or to remember
information that was previously encoded or
processed (Ericsson Chase, 1982).
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Memory and Emotions
Studies show that emotionally charged events are
remembered better than ordinary, neutral events
(e.g. Christianson, 1992).

• Mood Congruent Theory- We remember events
  that match our current mood.

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Memory Cognitive Load

• Cognitive Load- The total amount of mental
  activity imposed on working-memory at an instance
  in time (Cooper, 1998).

Working-Memory ? Long-Term Memory
- Excessive cognitive loads affect
memory and make
learning more
difficult.
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Hypotheses

• H1 Participants will remember
  mood-congruent better than mood-incongruent
  information.

• H2 Participants without cognitive load will
  remember information better than those with
  cognitive load.

• H3 Participants under both an emotional
  condition and cognitive load will remember
  more mood- congruent information.

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Methods
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Methods

• Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).
• Emotion Elicitation Task
• e.g. Please describe three to five things that
  make you the most happy.
• Learning Task (30 slides with or without
  cognitive load).
• 10 happy
• 10 sad
• 10 neutral
• Distracter Activity
• Recognition Task
• Debriefing

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(No Transcript)
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Methods

• Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).
• Emotion Elicitation Task
• e.g. Please describe three to five things that
  make you the most happy.
• Learning Task (30 slides with or without
  cognitive load).
• 10 happy
• 10 sad
• 10 neutral
• Distracter Activity
• Recognition Task
• Debriefing

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(No Transcript)
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Happy
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Sad
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Neutral
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Methods

• Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).
• Emotion Elicitation Task
• e.g. Please describe three to five things that
  make you the most happy.
• Learning Task (30 slides with or without
  cognitive load).
• 10 happy
• 10 sad
• 10 neutral
• Distracter Activity
• Recognition Task
• Debriefing

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Distracter Activity (Anagrams)
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Methods

• Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).
• Emotion Elicitation Task
• e.g. Please describe three to five things that
  make you the most happy.
• Learning Task (30 slides with or without
  cognitive load).
• 10 happy
• 10 sad
• 10 neutral
• Distracter Activity
• Recognition Task
• Debriefing

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Methods

• Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).
• Emotion Elicitation Task
• Please describe three to five things that make
  you the most happy.
• Learning Task (30 slides with or without
  cognitive load).
• 10 happy
• 10 sad
• 10 neutral
• Distracter Activity
• Recognition Task
• Debriefing

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Results
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Participants - Gender
N200
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Participants - Ethnicity
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• H1 Participants will remember mood-congruent
  slides better than mood-incongruent slides.

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• H1 Participants will remember mood-congruent
  slides better than mood-incongruent slides.

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Method

• Each participant given score out of a possible 20
• 20 no false positives and no mistakes

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• H1 Participants will remember mood-congruent
  slides better than mood-incongruent slides.

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• H1 Participants will remember mood-congruent
  slides better than mood-incongruent slides.

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• H1 Participants will remember mood-congruent
  slides better than mood-incongruent slides.

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Mean Number of Slides Accurately Recognized
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• H2 Participants without cognitive load will
  remember slides better than those with cognitive
  load.

No Load
Load
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• Mean number of slides accurately recognized

No Load
Load
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Mean Number of Slides Accurately Recognized
Although not significant, there is a trend for
participants without cognitive load to have
higher accuracy rates than participants with
cognitive load.
Mean Number of Slides Accurately Recognized
Cognitive Load
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• H3 Participants under both an emotional
  condition and cognitive load will remember more
  mood congruent slides.

No Load
Load
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H3 Participants under both an emotional
condition and cognitive load will remember more
mood congruent slides.
No Load
Load
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• Mean number of slides accurately recognized

No Load
Load
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• Mean number of slides accurately recognized

No Load
Load
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Possible Explanations and Future Directions

• Ceiling Effects
• Number of Slides
• Timing
• Distracter Activity
• Emotion Eliciting Activity

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For more information, please contact

• Namrata Mahajan
• Department of Psychology and Social Behavior
• University of California, Irvine
• nmahajan_at_uci.edu