Memory bias in social phobia

To examine memory bias for social threat in social phobics, four studies are reported in which social phobic and nonclinical Ss are compared on their retrieval of threat-relevant information. Study 1 measured standard recall and recognition of threat, neutral, and positive words, while Study 2 assessed retrieval of these words through implicit and explicit tasks. The two final studies attempted to increase the validity of the procedures. Study 3 examined recall of feedback in a hypothetical public performance task and Study 4 examined autobiographical memory for social and neutral situations. All four studies consistently failed to find any evidence for biased retrieval processes in social phobics.