Technology and Reflection: Mood and Memory Mechanisms for Well-Being.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Digital Well-being

Background:

• Technology Mediated Reflection (TMR) involves reviewing digital records of personal experiences to enhance well-being.
• The influence of user mood on TMR effectiveness remains underexplored.
• Theories of memory and emotion regulation inform hypotheses on mood, reflection, and well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the psychological impact of mood on Technology Mediated Reflection (TMR).
• To explore how mood influences the benefits of TMR for well-being.
• To test hypotheses regarding the interplay of mood, memory reflection, and well-being in a real-world setting.

Main Methods:

• A month-long real-world deployment of a web-based application, MoodAdaptor.
• Participants used MoodAdaptor to reflect on positive or negative memories based on their current mood.
• Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from 128 participants, including mood evaluations, logfiles, surveys, and interviews.

Main Results:

• TMR effectively regulated emotion, leading to more neutral moods when reflecting on opposite-valence memories.
• This mood regulation did not translate to significant improvements in overall well-being.
• A competitive interaction between mood and memory was observed; positive moods prevailing over negative memories aligned with known well-being mechanisms, while negative moods prevailing over positive memories led to negatively tainted memories.

Conclusions:

• Findings highlight the intricate relationship between memory and emotion in digital well-being interventions.
• Implications for designing new technologies and interventions that leverage the interplay of memory and emotion.
• Understanding mood-memory dynamics is crucial for optimizing TMR and similar well-being technologies.