Effects of experimentally-induced emotional states on frontal lobe cognitive task performance

A growing body of evidence suggests that dysphoric and euphoric emotional s tates are associated with reliable patterns of frontal lobe activity. Speci fically, dysphoric affect coincides with greater right than left frontal lo be activity, and euphoric affect tends to correspond with a converse patter n of activity. The present study examined whether cognitive outcomes associ ated with the left and right frontal lobes are differentially influenced by dysphoric and euphoric affect. In a completely between-groups design, 60 d extral women were administered either the positive or negative conditions o f the Velten Mood Induction Procedure, and they subsequently completed eith er a verbal or figural fluency test. Euphoria resulted in better verbal tha n figural fluency performance, and dysphoria yielded better figural than ve rbal fluency outcomes. These findings are consistent with electrophysiologi cal data concerning frontal lobe activity during euphoric and dysphoric aff ect, and they underscore the notion that affective influences upon cognitio n are more complicated than previously thought. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.