Emotional State, Emotional Learning Material Effect On The Directed Forgetting Effect

Directed forgetting means forgetting the specified information intentionally. Under the remember and forget direction, when the recognition rate of the to-remember items is higher than that of the to-forget items, that is the directed forgetting effect. So far, the studies about the effect of emotion on directed forgetting are not consistent with the question that whether the effect exists. Therefore, on the basis of the previous studies, using mood state and emotion valanced material as two variables, this paper is going to investigate the further interaction of them and to find out if the interaction affects the directed forgetting effect. That is to investigate whether the directed forgetting effect would exist decrease under different mood states and differently valanced material.The participants are freshmen and sophomore from Northwest University. The experiment design is a mixed factors design with one between-subject variable, which is the mood state of the subjects, and two within-subject variables, which are the valance of study material and the instructions. E-Prime is used in the establishment of the emotional inducing and the study and recognition tasks. SPSS17.0is used in the statistical analysis of the data, and t test and variance analysis are used. Positive, negative, and neutral moods were induced immediately before the new material was studied. The study material is displayed with a introduction following, meaning to remember or to forget. After the study, a simple test of reading is carried out to distract the attention. Then the subjects are asked to recognize the pictures showed during the study period.The study shows:first, mood state has no effect on the directed forgetting effect. It is obvious under any kind of mood state. Second, the emotional valance of the study material affects the directed forgetting effect. The recognition rate of the positive and negative valance pictures is higher than that of the neutral ones, with the directed forgetting effect decreasing for the emotional materials. Thirdly, the interaction of mood state and valance of material has influence on the directed forgetting effect. Under the positive mood state, the recognition rate of positive study material is obviously higher than that of the other two kinds, showing no difference under the remember and forger direction. Under the negative mood state, the recognition rate of negative study material is obviously higher than that of the other two kinds, showing no difference under the remember and forger direction.The results of this paper provide evidence for the study about the effect of emotion on directed forgetting. Meantime, it also provides explanation for the reversed results by the previous studies, thus to make contribution to the further study.