The Impact of Negative Mood on Cognitive Control

of a thesis at the University of Miami. Thesis supervised by Associate Professor Amishi Jha. No. of pages in text. (80) The current study aimed to determine the effect of both negative and positive mood on working memory (WM). Using a sample of undergraduates (N = 104), we investigated three specific topics: 1) if differences in trait affect and induced mood revealed specific impairments in WM; 2) the interplay between trait affect, induced mood, and dynamic adjustments in cognitive control; 3) the impact of baseline WM capacity on emotion manipulation and subsequent task performance. Participants completed one of three (Positive, Neutral, or Negative) 10-minute mood induction phases prior to a WM delayed-recognition task. Demand levels (high vs. low) of WM maintenance (memory load of 2 items vs. 1 item) and delay-spanning distractor interference (confusable vs. not confusable with memoranda) were manipulated using a factorial design during the task. The effect of positive mood on overall performance demonstrated an interaction between trait positive affect (PA) and induced mood. The interaction indicated that individuals with high (vs. low) trait PA performed worse when induced into a Happy mood and performed better than individuals with low PA when induced into a Sad mood. Also, trait PA was associated with decreased interference effects across all mood conditions. The effect of negative affect on WM performance was specific to the Neutral mood condition, and was associated with increased interference demand effects. Previous trial-based analyses indicated that both positive and negative