ABSTRACT
For years emotion and cognition have been considered as two distinct areas of research. Indeed, the attention was primarily given to the cognitive aspects of human functioning. Models of semantic memory were based on architecture and processes that were supposed to be insensitive to the (emotional) context. However, there has recently been renewed interest in the study of emotions, and their relationships with cognition appeared. Nonetheless, it seems necessary to be precise about what we mean by affect, emotion, and mood. Generally, affect is used as a more general term referring to emotion as well as mood (Bower & Forgas, 2000; Forgas, 1995, Exp. 3). There seems to be a consensus on the fact that emotions involve a subject–object relationship. Emotions are generally brief and are triggered in response to an object or a specific easily identifiable situation (Bower & Forgas, 2000). Moreover, because of their intensity, emotions usually interrupt the cognitive activities of an individual. On the other hand, a mood is a much less specific and more general state. Mood refers to a less-intense state but a durable and a pervasive one, always present in the background and thus less accessible to the conscience (Forgas, 1995). In addition, unlike emotions, moods do not disrupt the behavior of subjects, mainly because of their lower intensity (Ellis & Moore, 1999; Hänze & Hesse, 1993). Nevertheless, the distinction between emotion and mood poses some difficulties. Indeed, both emotional states maintain special relationships: Emotions often drain a state of latent mood that persists even beyond the effect of emotions itself.
