How Does Social Distancing During COVID-19 Affect Negative Moods and Memory?

In the absence of an effective vaccine or treatment, the current best defence against COVID-19 is social distancing—staying at home as much as possible, keeping distance from others, and avoiding large gatherings. Although social distancing maximizes physical health, we know little about its psychological consequences. In this research (N = 374), we investigated the effect of social distancing duration on negative moods and memory. The relation between social distancing duration and both negative mood and memory errors followed the same U-shaped function: negative moods and memory errors initially decreased steadily as social distancing duration increased, at which point (~ 30 days) they began to steadily increase. Subsequent analyses indicated that memory errors were mediated by lonely mood in particular. Thus, short-term social distancing might benefit psychological well-being and memory performance, but extended social distancing has the expected negative impact on mood and memory.