1. The Role of Arousal in Mood Mediation: A Closer Look at Mood Congruent Memory
Eric Eich
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2. content is congruent with one's current mood
Introduction
Mood Congruent Memory (MCM) has been defined as the enhanced encoding and retrieval of events whose affective
content is congruent with one's current mood
(Eich & Metcalfe, 1989; Blaney, 1986; Bower, 1981). In memory research, support concerning the existence of MCM (Lewis et.al, 1989; Salovey et.al, 1985; Clark and Teasdale, 1982; Bower et.al, 1989) has shown it to be a stable and robust effect. Eich & Metcalfe (1989) adapted a 2-dimensional theory of mood (Russell et.al, in press) that measured subjective pleasure and arousal, using an affect matrix. The range of emotions comprised a measure of affect (pleasure) and a measure of affect intensity (arousal). This protocol has been validated by subsequent mood studies (need support).
However, the involvement of arousal or pleasure with mood has not been fully understood. In particular, researchers have questioned whether a change in arousal is sufficient to produce effects on mood. A study by Varner et.al (1998) on MCM found that arousal was insignificant to mediate this effect, thus directly contesting the two-dimensional theory of mood proposed earlier. Varner et.al argued that cognitive activity and not physiological activity was responsible for mediation of MCM. In contrast, a study by Otto (1990) found physiological arousal induced through exercise was sufficient to produce positive changes in affect. This raised the issue of whether arousal was successfully isolated from pleasure in Varner et.al. In addition, Clark et.al (1983) suggested that arousal could be implicated in mood state dependence, but that a high state of autonomic arousal was not necessary to cue pleasurable past experiences. Thus, mixed signals about the role of arousal are evident and a change in arousal alone may not be sufficient to mediate MCM.
MM21 was proposed by Eich and Macaulay with the intention of replicating previous Mood Dependent and Mood Congruent findings through use of the Continuous Music Technique (CMT) [2] and mood induction. Data analysis measured the contribution of arousal to MCM, while holding pleasure constant. It was also possible to assess whether any interactions were occurring between both factors. MM21 sought to explain the findings of Varner and Ellis, as well as to utilize some additional methodological techniques to enhance validity- such as measures of subjective genuineness and baseline measures of mood.  MM21 intro (Sabette & Michelle)
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3. Topics of Discussion Method Participants
Participants
Ø      177 student and community participants (47 males, 130 females), ranging in age from 17 to 36 years (mean = 21.11).
Procedure
Ø      Each subject participated in two 1hour sessions, spaced two days apart. For the purpose of our analysis we will be looking at the data from the first session.
Ø      Each subject was screened for depression using the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, 1967).
Ø      A modified version of the Affect Grid (Russell, Weiss, & Mendelsohn, 1989) was explained and demonstrated to the subject and a baseline measurement was recorded.
Ø      Appropriate mood induction music was played and the subject was asked to think of a real or imagined experience that would recreate the designated mood: happy, calm, sad or anxious. The subject was given a mood grid every five minutes until criterion was reached. Criterion was designated as the four extreme corners of the mood grid (see fig 1).
Once criterion was reached the subject performed the Autobiographical Memory Generation (AMG) task. Twelve neutral words were presented to the subject one word at a time. For each word they were asked to recall aloud a related past event, and to rate its valence, significance and vividness at the time that it occurred.
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4. Topic One
RESULTS
Ø      Significant main effect for event type such that more positive than negative memories were generated (F= , p<0.0000).
Ø      Significant 2-way interaction between pleasure and arousal (F=5.0494, p=0.0257).
Ø      Significant 2-way interaction between pleasure and event type such that for unpleasant moods slightly more positive than negative memories were generated, while for subjects in a pleasant mood, not surprisingly, significantly more positive than negative memories were generated (F= , p<0.0000).
Ø      Significant 3-way interaction between arousal, pleasure, and event type (F=5.3763, p=0,0214). Post talk analysis revealed:
UNPLEASANT MOOD
low pleasure + low arousal → ↑ +'ve memories
low pleasure + high arousal → ↑ -'ve memories
PLEASANT MOOD
high pleasure + high arousal →↑ +'ve memories
high pleasure + low arousal →↑ +'ve memories
Ø      No significant interaction between arousal and event type.
Ø      Unweighted means were > %99 accurate compared to weighted means. Results were deemed meaningful when calculations determined the number of positive and negative words generated as opposed to averages.
3-way interaction qualified low order 2-way interactions and main effects.
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5. Topic Two
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6. Topic Three
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7. Real Life
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8. What This Means
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