Recent evidence suggests that working memory is strongly influenced by negative emotional states and their accompanying cortisol release. This project will examine the influence of positive and negative emotions and cortisol responses on information processing. In a completely within-subjects design, participants will be tested on three days: On a stress day, they will complete a set of mental tasks prior to and following a stressor designed to elicit cortisol release and negative moods; on a positive mood day, the tasks will be performed before and after a film known to produce positive emotions with no cortisol response; on the third day, tasks will be administered before and after a rest period having minimal effects on either moods or cortisol. Tasks will measure working memory and sensory discrimination, two processes thought to be affected differentially by emotions and cortisol secretion. To fully examine the activity of stress hormones during the tasks, cortisol will be measured in repeated saliva samples taken throughout the experimental sessions. Mental task performance will serve as the dependent variable with special attention paid to associations between cortisol levels, reported moods and performance on the tasks. This research may have implications for understanding cognitive alterations accompanying emotional disorders such as depressive illness.
