Implicit Memory Bias for Eating‐ and Body Appearance‐Related Sentences in Eating Disorders: An Application of Jacoby's White Noise Task

Abstract

Jacoby's white noise task and an explicit recognition task were used to investigate whether individuals with eating disorders demonstrate implicit memory bias and explicit memory bias, respectively, for information related to eating and body appearance. Included were 33 women with eating disorders (seven with anorexia nervosa and 26 with bulimia nervosa), 29 with nonclinical eating disorder‐related concerns, and 36 healthy controls. Results showed partial support for implicit memory bias but no support for explicit memory bias. These findings suggest that eating disorders may be characterized by relative initial automatic bias for eating disorder‐relevant information but not by bias at later stages of information processing. However, previous studies have demonstrated explicit memory bias in eating disorders, which is inconsistent with this interpretation. Future research is required to clarify the precise cognitive biases associated with eating disorders.