Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 31, Issue 4, Autumn 2000, Pages 745-756
Behavior Therapy

Original Research
Explicit memory bias for threat words in generalized anxiety disorder*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(00)80042-8Get rights and content

Although findings of an implicit memory bias for threat words in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are fairly robust, the data regarding an explicit bias in this disorder are less consistent. This issue was investigated in the context of two studies directed primarily at the examination of attentional and physiological underpinnings of GAD. In these experiments, GAD clients and nonanxious control participants (35 and 29 in Study 1, and 22 and 31 in Study 2, respectively) engaged in an S1–S2 conditioning procedure that involved the presentation of a series of neutral stimuli (colored dots) paired with threat and nonthreat words, followed by a free recall test. Instructions were to simply look at the dot and read the word silently. A free recall task was administered at the end of each experimental session. Contrary to previous trends in the literature, a marked bias in the GAD group toward recall of the threat words emerged in both studies. These results are considered in the light of methodological differences with previous research, information processing characteristics of GAD, and the role of physiological assessment in cognitive studies of anxiety.

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      Memory bias refers to the tendency to recall more explicitly negative than benign information. Eight studies failed to identify a memory bias related to trait worry or GAD (e.g., Mogg, Mathews, & Weinman, 1987; for a review, see Coles & Heimberg, 2002), while only three studies have found relationships between negative memory bias and trait worry (McKay, 2005) and GAD (Bradley, Mogg, & Williams, 1995; Friedman, Thayer, & Borkovec, 2000). These studies typically assessed how many valenced words individuals recalled from a previous task, but did not consider the influence of other cognitive processes (e.g., attention and interpretation) influencing encoding or retrieval of information.

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    *

    Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH-39172 to the third author. The authors would like to thank Mary Borkovec, Holly Hazlett-Stevens, Jim Lyonfields, Katie Peasley, and the late Silvia Molina for assistance in data collection and quantification. These data were collected at the Stress and Anxiety Disorders Institute, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University.

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