The Effects of Positive Mood on Memory

The results of four studies examining the effect of mood on the learning of brand names show that a positive mood enhances the learning of brand names in relation to a neutral mood. Respondents' clustering of the brand names they recalled suggests that a positive mood fosters relational elaboration by prompting the classification of brands on the basis of their category membership, which then serves as an effective cue for brand name retrieval. Results also suggest that mood can affect the rehearsal of the specific brand names. These findings add to the growing evidence that mood affects the strategies used to process information and demonstrate for the first time that mood affects brand rehearsal as well as relational elaboration. These findings also question the adequacy of theoretical accounts for mood effects based on the notion that a positive mood reduces the processing of stimulus information. Copyright 1999 by the University of Chicago.