The Effect Of Different Approach Motivitional Intensity Of Positive Emotions On Working Memory

Nearly the two decades, researchers in the field of psychology have devoted a lot of research enthusiasm to the topic of how positive emotions affect cognition. There are a large number of studies that have examined the effects of positive emotions on cognition, but Gable and Harmon-Jones (2010a)proposed the motivational dimensional model of affect, put forth that in addition to the two emotional dimensons of arousal and valence, there is the third important dimension-approach motivational intensity, and further proposed that positive emotion is not a unitary construct with a only one cognitive effect, on the contrary, the model proposed that different approach motivational intensity of positive emotions may have different effects on cognition. According to this model, only the positive emotions that has low approach motivational intensity could broaden cognitive processes, while the positive emotions that has high approach motivational intensity should narrow cognitive processes. Consistent with this theoretical model, researchers have investigated the different effects of positive emotions in different approach motivational intensity on the range of attention(Gable&Harmon-Jones,2008), cognitive categorization (Price&Harmon-Jones,2010)and cognitive control and so on. The innovation of this study lies in that we investigated the effects of positive emotions on verbal and spatial working memory effects from dimension of approach motivational intensity.In experiment Ⅰ of this study, we used a three (emotional condition:Neutral emotions, positive emotions higher in motivitional intensity, positive emotions lower in motivitional intensity)×two (task load:high, low)with a experimental design of within-subject.51college students participated in this experiment to investigate the different effects of positive emotions on verbal working memory. The results of this experiment verified the second hypothesis, the research results showed that in the delay matching task of verbal working memory, positive emotions lower in motivitional intensity promoted the subjects’accuracy on the task; positive emotions higher in motivitional intensity accelerated the subjects’ RT on the task, while impaired their accuracy on the task.In experiment Ⅱ of this study, we used a three (emotional condition:Neutral emotions, positive emotions higher in motivitional intensity, positive emotions lower in motivitional intensity)×two (task load: high, low)with a experimental design of within-subject.52college students participated in this experiment to investigate the different effects of positive emotions on spatial working memory. The results of this experiment verified the third hypothesis, the research results showed that in the delay matching task of spatial working memory, the positive emotions lower and higher in motivitional intensity both slowed down the subject’s RT on the task and impaired their accuracy on the task.These experimental studies have shown that different approach motivational intensity of positive emotions have different effects on cognition, this theory applies not only to basic cognitive processes such as attention, working memory, but also applies to senior cognitive processes such as working memory. The results of this study provided evidence of working memory which is a very important and critical cognitive domain for the motivational dimensional model of Gable and Harmon-Jones(2010a). These results extended the motivational dimensional model to a certain extent.