effects of emotions and cognitive load on memory presented at the university of california, irvine...
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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
Acknowledgements
Sarah Roper-Coleman, UCI
Dr. Peter H. Ditto, UCIMentor
Dr. Valerie Jenness, UCIHonors SeminarInstructor
Research Assistants:
Tiffany Fan, UCIAllyson Dong,
UCI
Funding:Undergraduate
Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
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
What is Memory?
Memory is the ability to use or to remember information that was previously encoded or processed (Ericsson & Chase, 1982).
Memory and Emotions
Mood Congruent Theory- We remember events that match our current mood.
Studies show that emotionally charged events are remembered better than ordinary, neutral events (e.g. Christianson, 1992).
Memory & Cognitive Load
• Cognitive Load- The “total amount of mental activity imposed on working-memory at an instance in time” (Cooper, 1998).
- Excessive cognitive loads affect memory and make learning more difficult.
Working-Memory Long-Term Memory
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.
Methods
Methods1. Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).2. Emotion Elicitation Task
e.g. “Please describe three to five things that make you the most happy.”
3. Learning Task (30 slides with or without cognitive load).
10 happy 10 sad 10 neutral
4. Distracter Activity5. Recognition Task6. Debriefing
Happy Sad Neutral
X X X
Methods1. Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).2. Emotion Elicitation Task
e.g. “Please describe three to five things that make you the most happy.”
3. Learning Task (30 slides with or without cognitive load).
10 happy 10 sad 10 neutral
4. Distracter Activity5. Recognition Task6. Debriefing
Happy Sad Neutral
X X XNo Load
Load X X X
Happy
Sad
Neutral
Methods1. Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).2. Emotion Elicitation Task
e.g. “Please describe three to five things that make you the most happy.”
3. Learning Task (30 slides with or without cognitive load).
10 happy 10 sad 10 neutral
4. Distracter Activity5. Recognition Task6. Debriefing
Distracter Activity (Anagrams)
Nerd Amid Late TV
Retypes Brains
Old West Action
He Can Mock Jails
David Letterman
Britney Spears
Clint Eastwood
Michael Jackson
Methods1. Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).2. Emotion Elicitation Task
e.g. “Please describe three to five things that make you the most happy.”
3. Learning Task (30 slides with or without cognitive load).
10 happy 10 sad 10 neutral
4. Distracter Activity5. Recognition Task6. Debriefing
Methods1. Demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity etc).
2. Emotion Elicitation Task “Please describe three to five things
that make you the most happy.”3. Learning Task (30 slides with or without
cognitive load). 10 happy 10 sad 10 neutral
4. Distracter Activity5. Recognition Task
6. Debriefing
Results
68%
32%
Women
Men
Participants - Gender
N=200
Participants - Ethnicity
53%
13%
5%
19%
8%
2%Asian
Black
Hispanic
Native Hawaiian
Non-HispanicWhite
Biracial
H1 : Participants will remember mood-congruent slides better than mood-incongruent slides.
Happy Slides
Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy + - -
Sad - + -
Neutral - - +
H1 : Participants will remember mood-congruent slides better than mood-incongruent slides.
Happy Slides
Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy + - -
Sad - + -
Neutral - - +
Method
• Each participant given score out of a possible 20
• 20 = no false positives and no mistakes
H1 : Participants will remember mood-congruent slides better than mood-incongruent slides.
Happy Slides
Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 18.951 19.131 19.377
Sad 18.444 18.524 18.841
Neutral 18.406 18.406 18.500
H1 : Participants will remember mood-congruent slides better than mood-incongruent slides.
Happy Slides
Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 18.951 19.131 19.377
Sad 18.444 18.524 18.841
Neutral 18.406 18.406 18.500
H1 : Participants will remember mood-congruent slides better than mood-incongruent slides.
Happy Slides
Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 18.951 19.131 19.377
Sad 18.444 18.524 18.841
Neutral 18.406 18.406 18.500
Mean Number of Slides Accurately Recognized
H2 : Participants without cognitive load will remember slides better than those with cognitive load.
Happy Slides
Sad Slides
Neutral Slides
Happy + + +
Sad + + +
Neutral + + +
Happy Slides
Sad Slides
Neutral Slides
Happy - - -
Sad - - -
Neutral - - -
No Load Load
Happy Slides Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 18.53 18.73 19.23
Sad 17.96 17.89 18.29
Neutral 18.42 18.52 18.55
Happy Slides Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 19.35 19.52 19.52
Sad 18.80 19.00 19.25
Neutral 18.39 18.30 18.45
No Load
Load
Mean number of slides accurately recognized
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.
18.2
18.4
18.6
18.8
No Load LoadCognitive Load
Mean
Nu
mb
er
of
Slid
es
Acc
ura
tely
R
eco
gn
ized
H3 : Participants under both an emotional condition and cognitive load will remember more mood congruent slides.
Happy Slides
Sad Slides
Neutral Slides
Happy + + +
Sad + + +
Neutral + + +
No Load Load
Happy Slides
Sad Slides
Neutral Slides
Happy + - -
Sad - + -
Neutral - - -
Happy Slides
Sad Slides
Neutral Slides
Happy + + +
Sad + + +
Neutral + + +
No Load Load
Happy Slides
Sad Slides
Neutral Slides
Happy ++ - -
Sad - ++ -
Neutral - - -
H3 : Participants under both an emotional condition and cognitive load will remember more mood congruent slides.
Happy Slides Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 18.53 18.73 19.23
Sad 17.96 17.89 18.29
Neutral 18.42 18.52 18.55
Happy Slides Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 19.35 19.52 19.52
Sad 18.80 19.00 19.25
Neutral 18.39 18.30 18.45
No Load
Load
Mean number of slides accurately recognized
Happy Slides Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 18.53 18.73 19.23
Sad 17.96 17.89 18.29
Neutral 18.42 18.52 18.55
Happy Slides Sad Slides Neutral Slides
Happy 19.35 19.52 19.52
Sad 18.80 19.00 19.25
Neutral 18.39 18.30 18.45
No Load
Load
Mean number of slides accurately recognized
Possible Explanations and Future Directions
Ceiling EffectsNumber of SlidesTimingDistracter Activity
Emotion Eliciting Activity
For more information, please contact…
Namrata MahajanDepartment of Psychology and Social Behavior
University of California, Irvine