How Positive and Negative Feelings Affect Daily Memory Lapses
Author Information
Author(s): Guevarra Ysabel A., Majeed Nadyanna M., Hisham Eva M., Hartanto Andree
Primary Institution: National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University
Hypothesis
Individuals with higher positive affect will experience more cognitive failures daily, while those with higher negative affect will experience fewer cognitive failures.
Conclusion
Positive and negative affect have different effects on daily cognitive failures, with negative affect consistently linked to increased cognitive lapses.
Supporting Evidence
- Negative affect was positively associated with cognitive failures at both within-person and between-person levels.
- Positive affect showed no significant associations with cognitive failures in the Singapore sample.
- Positive affect had a small negative association with cognitive failures at the between-person level in the US sample.
Takeaway
When people feel more negative emotions, they tend to make more mistakes in their daily tasks, while feeling positive doesn't help much with avoiding those mistakes.
Methodology
Participants completed daily diaries over seven or eight consecutive days, and multilevel modelling was used to analyze the data.
Potential Biases
Potential for self-report bias and cultural differences affecting emotional expression.
Limitations
The study relied on self-reported data, which may introduce bias, and the measures of cognitive failures differed between samples.
Participant Demographics
Younger adults from Singapore and adults across the lifespan from the US.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.001
Confidence Interval
[0.14, 0.27]
Statistical Significance
p<0.001
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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