The trainee is in a good mood

When the trainee is in a good mood or experiences a positive event, he:

• Interprets environmental stimuli positively. For example, a neutral expression will seem happy to him
• Has a wider attention span (scope of stimuli that he notices)
• Adopts a global and comprehensive vision of a situation more easily
• Remembers more easily peripheral details, details surrounding a learning event or activity, as well as sensory details

This global vision enables the trainee to:

• Recognize general principles (elements that are applicable to other cases)
• Make connections
• Apply his prior knowledge

The trainee is in a bad mood

When the trainee is in a bad mood, sad, anxious or experiences a negative event, he:

• Interprets stimuli negatively . For example, an anxious trainee is more likely to hear sarcasm in a positive comment
• Focuses solely on some elements
• Memorizes the central elements of an event, at the expense of peripheral details

This tunnel vision can adversely affect the trainee by:

• Leading to mistakes in clinical reasoning (such as premature closure)
• Decreasing his ability to get an overall picture of a patient’s situation