The effect of positive and negative mood induction on working, autobiographical, and semantic memory in people with maladaptive perfectionism

One of the important cognitive functions is memory. Memory is the process by which information is encoded, stored, and recalled later. Some personality traits, such as perfectionism, due to their positive or negative effects on mood, can act as a mediating or modulating variable on cognitive processes such as types of memory, and even cause cognitive biases in these processes. However, there are few researches on the effect of mood induction regarding the characteristics of maladaptive perfectionism.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of positive and negative mood induction on working, autobiographical, and semantic memory in individuals with maladaptive perfectionism.

This research was a semi-experimental type with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population in this research was all the students of Payam Noor University in the center of Tehran in the academic year 2022-2023. The statistical sample consisted of 30 students who were selected using purposive sampling and randomly assigned to three groups: positive mood (10 people), negative mood (10 people), and neutral mood (10 people). Subjects completed Kirchner’s working memory (N-BACK), verbal fluency (GhasemianShirvan et al, 2018), and historical memory retrieval (Williams & Broadbent,1986) tests before and after mood induction. The data were analyzed by covariance analysis using SPSS-26 software.

The results of data analysis showed that positive mood induction can improve working memory scores in people with maladaptive perfectionism. Also, the induction of negative mood can reduce the scores of working memory and semantic memory in people with maladaptive perfectionism (p<0.05).

Based on the results of the present study, positive and negative mood conditions in interaction with the personality trait of maladaptive perfectionism affect a person's memory.