Memory Bias for Threatening Information in Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders: A Meta-Analytic Review

作者：Mitte Kristin^*

来源：Psychological Bulletin, 2008, 134(6): 886-911.

DOI：10.1037/a0013343

• anxiety
• anxiety disorders
• memory bias
• threat
• meta-analysis

Although some theories suggest that anxious individuals selectively remember threatening stimuli. findings remain contradictory despite a considerable amount of research. A quantitative integration of 165 studies with 9,046 participants (clinical and nonclinical samples) examined whether a memory bias exists and which moderator variables influence its magnitude. Implicit memory bias was investigated in lexical decision/stimulus identification and word-stern completion paradigms; explicit memory bias was investigated in recognition and recall paradigms. Overall, effect sizes showed no significant impact of anxiety on implicit memory and recognition. Analyses indicated a memory bias for recall. whose magnitude depended on experimental study procedures like the encoding procedure or retention interval. Anxiety influenced recollection of previous experiences; anxious individuals favored threat-related information. Across all paradigms, clinical status was not significantly linked to effect sizes, indicating no qualitative difference in information processing between anxiety patients and high-anxious persons. The large discrepancy between study effects in recall and recognition indicates that future research is needed to identify moderator variables for avoidant and preferred remembering.

• 出版日期2008-11