Memory bias in health anxiety is related to the emotional valence of health-related words

Abstract

Objectives A model based on the associative strength of object evaluations is tested to explain why those who score higher on health anxiety have a better memory for health-related words. Method Sixty participants observed health and nonhealth words. A recognition memory task followed a free recall task and finally subjects provided evaluations (emotionality, imageability, and frequency) for all the words. Hit rates for health words, d′, c, and psychological response times (PRTs) for evaluations were examined using multi-level modelling (MLM) and regression. Results Health words had a higher hit rate, which was greater for those with higher levels of health anxiety. The higher hit rate for health words is partly mediated by the extent to which health words are evaluated as emotionally unpleasant, and this was stronger for (moderated by) those with higher levels of health anxiety. Consistent with the associative strength model, those with higher levels of health anxiety demonstrated faster PRTs when making emotional evaluations of health words compared to nonhealth words, while those lower in health anxiety were slower to evaluate health words. Conclusions Emotional evaluations speed the recognition of health words for high health anxious individuals. These findings are discussed with respect to the wider literature on cognitive processes in health anxiety, automatic processing, implicit attitudes, and emotions in decision making.