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Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection
Published on: August 26, 2011
Attachment and emotional memory: investigating the source and extent of avoidant memory impairments
1Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. redelste@uci.edu
Abstract:
Attachment avoidance has been associated with impairments in memory for material with emotional, attachment-related themes (e.g., loss). In the present study the author investigated the source and extent of these memory deficits by examining working memory capacity for attachment-related and nonattachment-related material. Avoidance was associated with deficits in working memory for positive and negative attachment-related stimuli. However, avoidance was unrelated to working memory capacity for nonattachment-related stimuli, both emotional and nonemotional. These findings are consistent with the proposal that avoidant individuals defensively limit the processing of potentially distressing information. Attachment anxiety was unrelated to working memory capacity across word type. Implications of the findings for defensive strategies and emotional memory are discussed.
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