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Implicit and explicit memory for emotional information in non-clinical subjects
B P Bradley1, K Mogg, R Williams
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, U.K.
Behaviour Research and Therapy
|January 1, 1994
Summary
Non-clinical depression is linked to unconscious memory biases. Individuals with higher depression showed altered implicit memory for depression-related words, suggesting a mood-congruent effect in automatic memory processes.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Emotional processing is crucial in mood disorders.
- Implicit memory may be affected by negative affect.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate implicit and explicit memory for emotional words.
- Examine mood-congruent biases in non-clinical populations.
Main Methods:
- Primed lexical decision task (implicit memory).
- Incidental free recall (explicit memory).
- Self-referent encoding task.
- Categorization into high and low negative affect groups.
Main Results:
- Higher negative affect group showed greater subliminal priming for depression-relevant words.
- Priming effect strongly associated with depression scores.
- Limited evidence for mood-congruent bias in explicit memory tasks.
Conclusions:
- Non-clinical depression is associated with mood-congruent bias in automatic implicit memory.
- Subliminal processing of emotional stimuli may be affected by depression.