Memory bias in anorexia nervosa: evidence from directed forgetting.
The aim of this study was to examine memory bias for disorder-relevant information in anorexia nervosa by using the directed forgetting paradigm. Normal controls and patients with anorexia nervosa were given a list consisting of neutral and disorder-relevant words, which they were either asked to remember (R) or forget (F). Memory performance was measured by a free recall and a Yes/No recognition task for all items. There was a directed forgetting effect for both groups; however, the magnitude of the effect (difference between R and F words) was smaller for the patient group due to higher recall of F items. Further analyses showed that this was true only for disorder-relevant but not for neutral items. Our findings support the existence of a strong memory bias for disorder-relevant information in patients with anorexia nervosa, who had difficulty in avoiding the processing of information that they were asked to forget.
Tekcan
Ali I
AI
Department of Psychology, Boğaziçi University, Bebek 34342, Istanbul, Turkey. ali.tekcan@boun.edu.tr
Cağlar Taş
A
A
Topçuoğlu
Volkan
V
Yücel
Başak
B
D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014706:Verbal Learning