Mood-state-dependent retrieval of verbal associations

Retrieval of previously self-generated events in the form of verbal associations was observed to be mood-state dependent in individuals who cycled between states of mania and normality. Recall of associations was more complete during periods of relatively stable mood, including periods of mania, compared to the reproduction of associations that were generated and retrieved during periods of disparate mood. The findings are discussed in the context of moodstate-specific encoding and storage of events and subsequent mood-state-specifk retrieval of experience. Mood states appear to determine how experienced events are processed, stored, and later retrieved from memory (Henry, Weingartner, & Murphy, 1973; Miller, 1975; Murphy, Henry, & Weingartner, 1973). Many of the findings relating mood state, learning, and recall have emerged from the study of patients who demonstrate a bipolarity in mood swings. These patients demonstrate periods of normal mood as well as episodes of depression and mania, with accompanying changes in brain catecholamine activity (Murphy & Redmond, 197S). Learning and memory appear to be disrupted during both the manic and the depressed phase of this disorder, and the extent to which such cognitive changes take place is a function of the intensity of the disturbance in mood (Henry et al., 1973). In a depressed phase, patients appear to be able to attend to input events and to form a temporary memory trace of experience, but they appear to be unable to retrieve experience after periods of delay. However, if these patients are treated with the precursor of the biogenic amine neurotransmitter dopamine, L-dopa, then this specific mood-related facet of the memory-learning deficit appears to be erased, but without an immediate associated lifting of mood (Henry et al., 1973). This finding suggests