Research finds that negative emotions increase attention to detail

esearchers from the University of Arizona and the Netherlands recently found that people who are unhappy can spot grammatical mistakes more quickly than those who are happy. Vicky Lai, the study’s principal investigator and an assistant professor of psychology and cognitive science at the University of Arizona, claimed that “people are more observant and analytical when they are in a negative mood.”

In order to perform the study, participants watched either a clip from Friend (positive mood group) or Sophie’s Choice (negative mood group) (positive mood group). After reading short stories with grammatical and contextual errors, participants’ brain waves were monitored using an EEG to determine how they responded. According to the study, persons who were unhappy displayed brain activity associated with reappraisal, or an increased sense of caution when thinking about mistakes.

This study “indicates that mood matters and that perhaps we should be mindful of our moods when we accomplish particular jobs,” according to Lai. If you’re having a bad day, it could be helpful to focus your annoyance on jobs that call for careful attention to detail, like editing or proofreading significant documents.