The Mind’s Eye: How Emotional Stimuli Shape Working Memory and Face Recognition in Depression

Abstract

This study examined the effect of emotional stimuli on working memory and face recognition efficiency. Additionally, it examined the interplay of depressive symptoms with the performance of participants. Participants were randomly assigned to watch a positive, negative or neutral video and complete a digit span task and a face recognition task before and after being exposed to the stimuli. Results from repeated measures MANOVA indicated a significant main effect of stimuli on both tasks, with participants assigned to the positive condition having a drastically higher performance on both tasks in comparison to the negative and neutral conditions. No significant effect of time and time x stimuli was found. However, although depressive symptoms did not significantly affect performance on both tasks, participants who had the highest BDI scores exhibited lower performance that in contrast to participants of the other two conditions. These findings further prove the interplay between emotion and cognitive functions, as well as suggest that individuals with higher depressive symptoms may be more susceptible to negative stimuli which leads to a decrease in their performance. Implications and recommendations for future studies are discussed.