The effects of positive mood on memory

The results of four studies examining the effect of mood on the learning of brand names show that a positive mood enhances the learning of brand names in relation to a neutral mood. Respondents' clustering of the brand names they recalled suggests that a positive mood fosters relational elaboration by prompting the classification of brands on the basis of their category me mbership, which then serves as an effective cue for brand name retrieval. R esults also suggest that mood can affect the rehearsal of the specific bran d names. These findings add to the growing evidence that mood affects the s trategies used to process information and demonstrate for the first time th at mood affects brand rehearsal as well as relational elaboration. These fi ndings also question the adequacy of theoretical accounts for mood effects based on the notion that a positive mood reduces the processing of stimulus information.