Abstract
The present study examined characteristics of autobiographical memories retrieved by individuals with social phobia (n=15) and nonanxious individuals (n=17). Participants were presented with social threat, positive, and neutral cue words and instructed to retrieve the first specific personal memory that came to mind. Memories were coded for retrieval latency, overgenerality (vs. specificity), and affective tone. Nonanxious individuals, rather than social phobic individuals, demonstrated a bias toward the retrieval of specific negative memories when cued by social threat words. Significant omnibus results were attenuated when self-reported depression was included as a covariate in analyses. These results suggest that memories cued by social threat words are particularly salient for nonanxious individuals but not for individuals with social phobia and that depressive symptoms must be accounted for in studies examining cognitive biases toward threat.
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