Visual working memory and threat monitoring: Spider fearfuls show disorder-specific change detection.
Previous studies of biased information processing in anxiety addressed biases of attention and memory, but little is known about the processes taking place between them: visual working memory (VWM) and monitoring of threat. We investigated these processes with a change detection paradigm. In Experiment 1, spider fearfuls (SF) and non-anxious controls (NAC) judged two subsequently presented displays as same or different. The displays consisted of several pictures, one of which could depict a spider. In Experiment 2, SF and NAC, both without snake fear, were tested with displays including either a spider or a snake image to determine the material-specificity of biased VWM. Both groups showed increased change detection for threat images. This effect was significantly stronger in SF, for spider images only, indicating a threat-specific VWM bias. Thus, contrary to the assumptions made by most cognitive models of anxiety, an explicit memory bias was found.
Reinecke
Andrea
A
Dresden University of Technology, Germany. andrea.reinecke@psych.ox.ac.uk
Becker
Eni S
ES
Rinck
Mike
M
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D015982:Bias; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D012911:Snakes; D013112:Spiders; D014796:Visual Perception