On the Importance of Mood Intensity and Encoding Demands in Memory. Commentary on Hasher, Rose, Zacks, Sanft, and Doren

Abstract

This article comments on the failure of Hasher, Rose, Zacks, Sanft, and Doren (1985) to find either an overall reduction in story recall or selectivity effects in recall due to a mildly depressed mood state. It is proposed that their negative findings are likely the result of a weak individual difference mood manipulation that is less intense than that normally produced by laboratory mood-induction procedures. In addition, it is proposed that the story recall task may make insufficient encoding demands because of its logical and highly meaningful structure. There is experimental evidence indicating that the effects of mood on recall are greatest when encoding demands are high. Although the negative findings of Hasher et al. appear valid, the conditions of their experiments are those which appear least likely to produce mood effects on recall. © 1985 American Psychological Association.