Effects of Positive Mood on Memory

The results of three studies examining the effect of mood on the learning of brand names showed that a positive mood enhanced the learning of brand names in relation to a neutral mood. Evidence of clustering of brand names recalled suggests that a positive mood fosters the classification of brands on the basis of their category membership, which then serves as an effective cue for retrieval. Results also suggest that mood affects the rehearsal of the specific brand names. These findings add to the growing evidence that mood affects the strategies used to process information, and demonstrates for the first time that mood affects stimulus rehearsal and clustering.