A highly replicable decline in mood during rest and simple tasks

David C. Jangraw (), Hanna Keren, Haorui Sun, Rachel L. Bedder, Robb B. Rutledge, Francisco Pereira, Adam G. Thomas, Daniel S. Pine, Charles Zheng, Dylan M. Nielson and Argyris Stringaris
Additional contact information
David C. Jangraw: National Institute of Mental Health
Hanna Keren: Bar-Ilan University
Haorui Sun: University of Vermont
Rachel L. Bedder: University College London
Robb B. Rutledge: University College London
Francisco Pereira: National Institute of Mental Health
Adam G. Thomas: National Institute of Mental Health
Daniel S. Pine: National Institute of Mental Health
Charles Zheng: National Institute of Mental Health
Dylan M. Nielson: National Institute of Mental Health
Argyris Stringaris: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Nature Human Behaviour, 2023, vol. 7, issue 4, 596-610

Abstract: Abstract Does our mood change as time passes? This question is central to behavioural and affective science, yet it remains largely unexamined. To investigate, we intermixed subjective momentary mood ratings into repetitive psychology paradigms. Here we demonstrate that task and rest periods lowered participants’ mood, an effect we call ‘Mood Drift Over Time’. This finding was replicated in 19 cohorts totalling 28,482 adult and adolescent participants. The drift was relatively large (−13.8% after 7.3 min of rest, Cohen’s d = 0.574) and was consistent across cohorts. Behaviour was also impacted: participants were less likely to gamble in a task that followed a rest period. Importantly, the drift slope was inversely related to reward sensitivity. We show that accounting for time using a linear term significantly improves the fit of a computational model of mood. Our work provides conceptual and methodological reasons for researchers to account for time’s effects when studying mood and behaviour.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01519-7

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