It feels harder to think when your mind鈥檚 in a minor funk (Image: Oliver Charles/Getty)
We all have days when we feel like our brain is going at a snail鈥檚 pace, when our neurons forgot to get out of bed. And psychologists have shown that IQ can fluctuate day to day. So if we鈥檙e in good health and don鈥檛 have a sleep deficit from last night鈥檚 shenanigans to blame, what鈥檚 the explanation?
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Sophie von Stumm, a psychologist at Goldsmiths University, London, set about finding out. In particular, she wanted to know whether mood might explain the brain鈥檚 dimmer switch.
Although it seems intuitively obvious that feeling low could compromise intellectual performance, von Stumm says research to date has been inconclusive, with some studies finding an effect and others not. 鈥淥n bad mood days, we tend to feel that our brains are lame and work or study is particularly challenging. But scientists still don鈥檛 really know if our brains work better when we are happy compared to when we are sad.鈥�
To see if she could pin down mood鈥檚 effect on IQ more convincingly, von Stumm recruited 98 participants. Over five consecutive days they completed questionnaires to assess their mood, as well as tests to measure cognitive functions, such as short-term memory, working memory and processing speed.
Lethargic mind, quick brain
Surprisingly, being in a bad mood didn鈥檛 translate into worse cognitive performance. However, when people reported feeling positive, von Stumm saw a modest boost in their processing speed.
It鈥檚 possible that the impact of a bad mood failed to show up because its effects are only seen at the extremes 鈥� a minor funk wouldn鈥檛 be sufficient, says von Stumm.
鈥淭he problem in studying this question is the assessment of mood and cognition: if it鈥檚 done in the lab, both are influenced by the setting, and who鈥檚 in a good mood when participating in psychology research?鈥�
To get around this, von Stumm and her colleagues have developed the . Moo-Q, designed by psychology app builders , prompts users to take a series of cognitive tests over a number of days, and to record their disposition. This allows them to see when they鈥檙e performing best, but could also generate an enormous amount of data that the team can analyse to explore the link between mood and mind power in more detail.
鈥淢ore than 11,000 people have downloaded it since it was released two weeks ago,鈥� says von Stumm. 鈥淚鈥檓 blown away.鈥�
鈥淚nstead of worrying about low mood pulling us down, we should focus on how a good mood can boost cognitive performance,鈥� she says.
Correction, 29 September 2015: When this article was first published, the name of the app building company PsyT was misspelled.
