The effects of environmental stress on the processing of task-irrelevant cues of a social nature were examined. While noise did not affect memory for the task-relevant cues, task-irrelevant cues, regardless of whether they depicted calm or distressed persons, were remembered less well under noise than under quiet. (Author/MA)

A list of 105 adjectives which describe affective qualities of environments was developed and presented to 323 subjects. Factor analysis of subjects' ratings produced two bipolar factors that correlated with reactions of arousal and pleasure to various environments. (Author/WB)