COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF PERSONALLY RELEVANT INFORMATION

Subjects performed an idiographic, computerised version of the modified Stroop colour-naming task after having undergone a him-induced mood manipulation designed to produce either anxiety, elation, or a neutral mood. The Stroop stimuli were words related either to the subject's positive current concerns (e.g. goals, interests), to the subject's negative current concerns (e.g. personal worries), or to neither. The results indicated that words strongly related to subject's positive as well as to negative current concerns produced significantly more Stroop interference than did words unrelated or weakly related to their current concerns. Although the films strongly influenced the subjects' moods in predicted directions initially, mood changes were largely not maintained throughout the experiment. Thus, it is not surprising that no significant interactions with word type were found. These results indicate that the ''emotional Stroop effect'' occurs in normal subjects as well as in anxious patients, and occurs with positive as well as with negative material of strong personal relevance.