Using Signal Detection Theory to Investigate the Impact of Mood Induction on Emotional Information Processing in High BAS/BIS Individuals

The main objective of this study was to investigate the explicit memory bias in the people with high BAS/BIS sensitivity in the different manipulated mood states.
By using purposive sampling method, seventy-four participants (undergraduate students) were selected based on z-scores of 480 using the Carver and White’s BAS/BIS scale. They were distributed as: 24 with high BAS sensitivity, 25 with high BIS sensitivity and 25 as the control group. Data were gathered in the framework of quasi-experimental design. All the subjects were presented with emotional words for memorization. Then, the participants in each group were randomly assigned to either a sad or a happy mood induction prior to performing a recognition memory task. Reaction Time (RT), response bias (ß) and sensitivity (d’) for the emotional word recognition was calculated using the signal detection theory.
Reaction time for recognizing the negative words in the sad mood condition was shorter in the high BIS sensitivity group, relative to the high BAS sensitivity group and controls. No significant differences were observed for sensitivity (d’), neither between groups nor within the control. However, lower ß for negative words was observed in the high BIS sensitivity group only.
Results indicated that individuals with high BIS sensitivity use more liberal strategy for the negative word recognition.