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Abstract
Participants completed single and dual rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) tasks. Across five experiments, either the mood of the participant or valence of the target was manipulated to create pairings in which the critical target was either mood congruent or mood noncongruent. When the second target (T2) in an RSVP stream was congruent with the participant's mood, performance was enhanced. This was true for happy and sad moods and in single- and dual-task conditions. In contrast, the effects of congruence varied when the focus was on the first target (T1). When in a sad mood and having attended to a sad T1, detection of a neutral T2 was impaired, resulting in a stronger attentional blink (AB). There was no effect of stimulus-mood congruence for T1 when in a happy mood. It was concluded that mood-congruence is important for stimulus detection, but that sadness uniquely influences post-identification processing when attention is first focused on mood-congruent information.
A special thank you is extended to the students who served as research assistants. For experiments 1 through 4, the assistants were Tiffany Berg, Ann Beaudoin, Magdalena Brockel, Jessica Dickinson, Kathryn Flannery, Heidi Francis, and Tyler Nelson. Brandon Goering, James Murphy, Samantha Myhre, Brandon Saxton, and Tharaki Siyaguna served as research assistants for Experiment 5.
A special thank you is extended to the students who served as research assistants. For experiments 1 through 4, the assistants were Tiffany Berg, Ann Beaudoin, Magdalena Brockel, Jessica Dickinson, Kathryn Flannery, Heidi Francis, and Tyler Nelson. Brandon Goering, James Murphy, Samantha Myhre, Brandon Saxton, and Tharaki Siyaguna served as research assistants for Experiment 5.