Fig. 2. Effects of mood induction procedure on VAS mood ratings.

Sadness was measured with a VAS before (pre) and after (post) the experimental induction of sad or neutral mood during the endotoxin and the placebo condition. The induction of sad mood led to significant increases in sadness ratings both within the endotoxin and the placebo condition (*p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, results of Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc paired t-tests). In addition, participants showed higher baseline sadness ratings (i.e., before the mood induction paradigm started) within the endotoxin condition (⁺⁺ p < 0.01, ⁺⁺⁺ p < 0.001, results of Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc paired t-tests), reflecting endotoxin effects on sadness ratings. For ANOVA results, please see text