The Effect of Mood and Individual Differences on Implicit Learning

This study investigated the relationship between mood, cognitive style, and implicit learning. Ninety-four participants were induced with a positive, neutral, or negative mood. We predicted that a positive mood would enhance implicit learning, while a negative mood would depress it. Additionally, we expected that participants with a more intuitive cognitive style would perform better on implicit learning. Implicit learning was measured using the Artificial Grammar (AG) and Serial Reaction Time (SRT) tasks. Our results suggest surprising differences between the tasks; positive mood and intuitive cognitive style seem to help the SRT, while negative mood and analytical cognitive style seem to help the AG. We postulate that this might result from differences in modality, strategy use, or awareness of the pattern. The Effect of Mood 3 The Effect ofMood and Individual Differences on Implicit Learning It might be surprising to learn that, at this very moment, you are consciously aware of only a small fraction of the information your mind is processing. The mind controls two distinct but intimately intertwined systems: The explicit system and the implicit system (Hogarth, 2001; Pacini & Epstein, 1999). The explicit system accounts for deliberate actions that are available to conscious awareness; it operates consciously and is relatively slow, analytical, and relatively uninfluenced by emotions (Pacini & Epstein, 1999). Reading, studying, and willfully attending to something are all examples of actions which are controlled by the explicit system. However, given the limited amount of attentional resources available to a person, it is not possible to pay attention to everything which could possibly be important in the environment (Hogarth, 2001). While busy concentrating attention on certain information via the explicit system, the mind is also unconsciously learning associations and processing information from the environment. Processes such as these are part of the implicit system; it is preconscious, operates quickly or automatically, holistically, and is highly associated with the effects of emotion (Pacini & Epstein, 1999). The implicit system operates at a level below conscious awareness and is less dependent on attentional resources (Hogarth, 2001). The implicit system is capable ofprocessing vast and complex sets of information-so vast and complex, that one could not even attempt to attend to all of it consciously (Cleeremans & Jimenez, 1998). Despite being unavailable to consciousness, this implicit information can influence actions. For example, implicit learning might influence social information processing. When in a social situation, individuals may make implicit associations that might lead to hasty judgments of character or stereotyping (Park & Banaji, 2000; Seger, 1994). The Effect of Mood 4 Evidence for the existence of these two distinct systems stems from neuroscientific research. For example, some studies have indicated that patients with Korsakoff's syndrome and anterograde amnesia still maintain the unconscious processes ofthe implicit system, whereas explicit functions are drastically reduced (Nissen & Bullemer, 1987; Roediger, 1990). This evidence indicates that implicit and explicit systems for gaining and processing information are distinct, as the explicit system can be damaged while the implicit system remains intact. Because the environment is so incredibly rich in information, the individual cannot attend to all of it. Thus, in order to take in as much of that information as possible, individuals are able to learn implicitly, through experience rather than meticulous explicit study. Much of the information that is used in everyday life has not been explicitly taught; rather, it has been gained over time through experience. An expert tennis player, for instance, learns to react to subtle cues in the opponent's movements. The tennis player probably cannot explicate precisely what cues she is reacting to, but her behavior on the court is deeply influenced nonetheless. This is the phenomenon of implicit learning, or the gaining of knowledge at a level below consciousness (Cleeremans & McClelland, 1991; Roediger, 1990). Because so much of one's behavior is influenced by implicit processes such as implicit learning, it is important to understand what affects it, positively and negatively. Two possible factors which could influence implicit learning are cognitive style and mood. Cognitive style has been demonstrated to influence many aspects of cognition, such as problem solving strategy (Epstein, 1994; Pacini & Epstein, 1999). Its relationship to implicit learning, however, has thus far been overlooked. Likewise, mood has been shown to influence many aspects of cognition, including idea generation, creativity, and information processing (e.g., Isen, 1987, 1999; Vosburg, 1998a, 1998b). However, mood's influence on implicit learning