Abstract
The peak-end memory bias has been well documented for the retrospective evaluation of pain. It describes that the retrospective evaluation of pain is largely based on the discomfort experienced at the most intense point (peak) and at the end of the episode. This is notable because it means that longer episodes with a better ending can be remembered as less aversive than shorter ones; this is even if the former had the same peak in painfulness and an overall longer duration of pain. Until now, this bias has not been studied in the domain of anxiety despite the high relevance of variable levels of anxiety in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Therefore, we set out to replicate the original studies but with an induction of variable levels of anxiety. Of 64 women, half watched a clip from a horror movie which ended at the most frightening moment. The other half watched an extended version of this clip with a moderately frightening ending. Afterward, all participants were asked to rate the global anxiety which was elicited by the video. When the film ended at the most frightening moment, participants retrospectively reported more anxiety than participants who watched the extended version. This is the first study to document that the peak-end bias can be found in the domain of anxiety. These findings require replication and extension to a treatment context to evaluate its implications for exposure therapy.
Highlights
Several cognitive heuristics and biases have been identified in the past decades
Women were invited to participate in this experiment since they are two to three times more likely to be affected by anxiety disorders (Wittchen et al, 2011)
The experience is rated less frightening it has the same peak and an additional anxiety-eliciting component, thereby including more anxiety in total
Summary
Several cognitive heuristics and biases have been identified in the past decades. Among the most prominent ones are the representativeness and the availability heuristic (Tversky and Kahneman, 1974), and the attention bias (Phillips et al, 2014). With respect to biases in clinical populations, it is evident that efforts have been made to modify them with training programs (Beard, 2011). Cognitive bias modification (CBM) aims to lessen cognitive biases to treat individuals with alcohol addictions (Eberl et al, 2013), anxiety disorders and depression (Hallion and Ruscio, 2011). There are only a few exceptions in which clinical practice has aimed at capitalizing on cognitive biases. A notable exception is the peak-end bias
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