MOOD DEPENDENT MEMORY: COGNITIVE AND CLINICAL RESEARCH

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Though it has sometimes been shown that events encoded in a certain state of affect or mood are most retrievable in that state, neither the circumstances under which mood dependent memory (MDM) occurs nor the mechanisms that enable its emergence are as yet well understood. In aid of clarifying these circumstances and mechanisms, this project pursues the problem of MDM from two points of view. One approach features laboratory studies involving exogenous or experimentally induced moods in university students. The aim here is to identify factors or variables that play pivotal roles in the occurrence of MDM. This approach is called "cognitive" because it focuses on factors-- such as short versus long retention intervals, judgements about the self versus others, and actual versus simulated moods--that are familiar to students of mainstream cognitive psychology, social cognition, or cognition/emotion interactions. A second approach concentrates on endogenous or naturally occurring moods in select clinical samples. Here the question of interest is whether it is possible to demonstrate MDM in people who experience marked shifts in mood as a consequence of a psychiatric disorder, such as rapid-cycling bipolar illness. By examining mood dependence from both a cognitive and a clinical perspective, the project seeks to (a) reduce much of the uncertainty that still surrounds the reality of MDM, (b) gain new insights into the phenomenon's cognitive and affective foundations, and (c) demonstrate the advantages of exploring mood dependence through experimentation that cuts across traditional research domains.