UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones May 2017 The Relationship Between Mood and Implicit Learning Kathleen Larson University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Cognitive Psychology Commons, and the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons Repository Citation Larson, Kathleen, "The Relationship Between Mood and Implicit Learning" (2017). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 3003. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/10985984 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOOD AND IMPLICIT LEARNING By Kathleen G. Larson Bachelor of Arts – Psychology Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2011 Master of Arts – Psychology University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2014 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy – Psychology Department of Psychology College of Liberal Arts The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2017 Copyright 2017 by Kathleen G. Larson All Rights Reserved Dissertation Approval The Graduate College The University of Nevada, Las Vegas March 31, 2017 This dissertation prepared by Kathleen Larson entitled The Relationship Between Mood and Implicit Learning is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy – Psychology Department of Psychology David Copeland, Ph.D. Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D. Examination Committee Chair Graduate College Interim Dean Mark Ashcraft, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Stephen Benning, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Richard Warren, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Courtney Coughenour, Ph.D. Graduate College Faculty Representative ii ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOOD AND IMPLICIT LEARNING By Kathleen G. Larson Dr. David E. Copeland, Examination Committee Chair Associate Professor of Psychology University of Nevada, Las Vegas This dissertation investigates whether a person’s current mood state influences their ability to learn implicitly. Implicit learning refers to learning about regularities in the environment without having conscious access to the information (e.g., Reber, 1967). According to the affect-as- information hypothesis, a positive mood increases global processing of incoming information and negative mood leads to local processing (e.g., Clore & Storbeck, 2006); however, most previous studies that investigated mood and cognition have focused on more explicit types of learning and decision making, but few have examined implicit processes. Thus, the current experiments examined how varying levels of mood and arousal affect artificial grammar learning. A pilot experiment demonstrated an advantage for positive mood when the images were mood inducing. Experiment 1 had a separate mood induction phase and participants completed an artificial grammar task that contained letters. These results replicated an earlier study by Pretz et al. (2010) that showed an advantage for those in a negative mood. Experiment 2 was an expansion of the pilot by including standardized images and two additional mood groups (positive-high arousal and neutral). However, there were no significant differences between mood conditions. Experiment 3 used categories of pictures and found a disadvantage for those in a positive / high aroused state. While the patterns across the experiments were slightly different, altogether, the results were not consistent with the predictions made by the affect-as-information hypothesis. As addressed in the dissertation, this could be due to certain elements of the artificial iii grammar learning procedure, such as the long viewing phase diminishing the mood and arousal induction effects. The dissertation also considers other possibilities, including the idea that implicit learning is not as affected by mood as explicit learning. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the support from my dissertation committee: Dr. David Copeland, Dr. Richard Warren, Dr. Mark Ashcraft, Dr. Stephen Benning, and Dr. Courtney Coughenour. I would also like to sincerely thank Drs. Richard Warren and David Copeland, thank you for your guidence, encouragement, and support, which has made me a better researcher. Finally, I want to acknowledge my colleagues in the Reasoning and Memory Lab, Laura Werner, Amber Williams, and Michael Palena, who supported me throughout the process of completing this project. v DEDICATION I wish to dedicate this thesis to my parents, Sherri and Joseph Larson. I am tremendously grateful for their love and support. I would also like to dedicate this thesis to my aunt and uncle, Signa and David Gundlach, who have been sources of great support and wisdom throughout the pursuit of this degree. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my former undergraduate advisor, Dr. Susan Zimny, for encouraging me to pursue post-baccalaureate study. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ................................................................ 2 CHAPTER 3 EXPERIMENT OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER 4 PILOT EXPERIMENT ........................................................................................... 35 CHAPTER 5 EXPERIMENT 1 .................................................................................................... 40 CHAPTER 6 EXPERIMENT 2 .................................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 7 EXPERIMENT 3 .................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 8 GENERAL DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER 9 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS.................................................... 62 CHAPTER 11 CONCLUSION..................................................................................................... 65 APPENDIX A: FIGURES ............................................................................................................ 66 APPENDIX B: PILOT IMAGES ................................................................................................. 85 APPENDIX C: PANAS ................................................................................................................ 87 APPENDIX D: PILOT GRAMMAR ........................................................................................... 89 APPENDIX E: EXPERIMENT 1 GRAMMAR ........................................................................... 91 APPENDIX F: EXPERIMENT 1 IAPS RATINGS ..................................................................... 92 APPENDIX G: AHS ..................................................................................................................... 99 APPENDIX H: EXPERIMENT 2 IAPS RATINGS .................................................................. 102 APPENDIX I: TABLES ............................................................................................................. 106 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 115 CURRICULUM VITAE ............................................................................................................. 133 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Signal detection analysis for correct items on the grammar test in Experiment 1........ 106 Table 2. Signal detection analysis for consistent items on the grammar test in Experiment 1. .. 107 Table 3. Mean and standard deviation PANAS scores for Experiment 2 for pre and post mood induction. .................................................................................................................................... 108 Table 4. Signal detection analysis for correct items on the grammar