If you’re happy and you know it, can you think flexibly?

Event Abstract Back to Event If you’re happy and you know it, can you think flexibly? Hayley Giniunas1*, Emily Hindman1 and Desirée Kozlowski1 1 Department of Psychological Science, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Australia Aim: Cognitive flexibility refers to a cognitive skill that underlies an individual’s ability to efficiently adapt their behaviour within a changing environment. Low mood and high stress have been found to impede cognitive flexibility. Some studies also suggest that individuals may exhibit enhanced cognitive flexibility when in a positive mood state. This study investigated the effect of a brief mood enhancing intervention on cognitive flexibility using a switching task that controlled for speed of processing and inhibitory control. Methods: Thirty-one participants (Mage = 24, SDage = 4.45) completed a computerised switching task on two separate occasions. An autobiographical memory task was used to elicit positive (on one occasion) or neutral (on the other) mental imagery prior to completing the switching task and the effects of the task were quantified using self-report measures of positive and negative affect. The order of the positive and neutral conditions was randomised and all participants completed the second condition within one week. Results: The mood enhancing intervention successfully elicited changes in affect. Results revealed increased positive affect (t(28) = 3.39 p = .002 d = .3) and decreased negative affect (t(29) = 5.51, p < .001, d = -.37) in the positive condition compared to the neutral condition. These improvements were not associated with improvements in cognitive flexibility (t(28) = -.36, p = .720, d = .01). Conclusion: Given that the mood manipulation was successful it may be that either: 1) everyday capacity to switch between tasks is not influenced by slight changes in positive mood as previously thought; or, 2) the computerised neurocognitive assessment tasks used here were insufficiently sensitive to detect such an effect. Keywords: Mood enhancement, autobiographical memory, cognitive flexibility, executive functions, cognitive ability Conference: 15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference , Coffs Harbour, Australia, 4 Oct - 5 Oct, 2018. Presentation Type: Research Topic: Abstract for 15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference Citation: Giniunas H, Hindman E and Kozlowski D (2019). If you’re happy and you know it, can you think flexibly?. Front. Psychol. Conference Abstract: 15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference . doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2018.74.00022 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Sep 2018; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Ms. Hayley Giniunas, Department of Psychological Science, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia, h.giniunas.10@student.scu.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Hayley Giniunas Emily Hindman Desirée Kozlowski Google Hayley Giniunas Emily Hindman Desirée Kozlowski Google Scholar Hayley Giniunas Emily Hindman Desirée Kozlowski PubMed Hayley Giniunas Emily Hindman Desirée Kozlowski Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.