Happiness increases verbal and spatial working memory capacity where sadness does not: Emotion, working memory and...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Affective Science

Background:

• Emotion's impact on cognitive functions like working memory and executive control is complex.
• Previous research shows mixed effects of positive and negative moods on verbal versus spatial working memory.
• The interplay between mood, executive control, and working memory capacity requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how positive, negative, and neutral moods influence verbal and spatial working memory capacity.
• To determine if mood's effect on executive control mediates its impact on working memory capacity.
• To test the hypothesis that positive mood enhances working memory capacity across domains due to improved executive control.

Main Methods:

• Moods (positive, negative, neutral) were induced in participants.
• Participants completed verbal (Experiment 1) or spatial (Experiment 2) working memory operation span tasks.
• Working memory capacity was assessed by measuring performance on these tasks.

Main Results:

• Positive mood significantly enhanced working memory capacity, regardless of whether the task was verbal or spatial.
• Negative mood did not show a significant influence on working memory capacity.
• Positive mood's enhancement of executive control appeared to supersede its domain-specific effects on working memory.

Conclusions:

• Positive mood benefits working memory capacity by bolstering executive control functions.
• The findings suggest that mood's influence on executive control is a primary mechanism affecting working memory.
• Future research should explore the neural underpinnings of mood-dependent executive control in working memory.