Effects of emotion-related surface similarity in analogical problem solving

In analogical problem solving, a source problem with a known solution is used to solve a target problem. The present study deals with one possible condition influencing the search for possible source problems (i.e., with similarities between source and target problems in the emotional connotation of the problem cover stories). Subjects were given six source problems-distractors as well as target-relevant problems-that were varied with respect to the emotional valence of the cover stories. Then one group of subjects (n = 32) was given a pleasant target problem, while the other group (n = 31) received an unpleasant target problem. Except for emotional valence the two target problems were identical. Subjects preferred those target-relevant source problems that were emotionally congruent with the target problem. The findings are interpreted within network theories of long-term memory, introducing emotional markers or emotion-concept nodes to represent the emotional connotation of the represented units. By controlling subjects' mood change after reading the (un)pleasant target-problem cover story, it could be ruled out that the observed results were due to a mood congruity effect of the type described by Bower (1981).