title: Restrained eating and memory specificity.
abstract: Autobiographical memories are personal experiences that we store across our life-span. A reduced ability to retrieve specific autobiographical experiences has been reported for a number of clinical populations. Previous research has found that the size of the memory specificity effect can predict disorder occurrence, severity, and treatment success. The current research examined whether a similar relationship could be found between memory specificity and restrained eating in a female college student population. Participants retrieved autobiographical memories that related to cue-words associated with dieting and body image. Individual differences in restrained eating were measured with the Restraint Scale (RS). Participants who scored higher on the concern-with-dieting sub-scale of the RS retrieved fewer specific autobiographical memories regardless of their current dieting activity. The memory specificity effect has the potential to serve as a predictor of eating disorder occurrence and treatment success, and may also assist with the development of interventions targeting such disorders.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, USA. ctball@wm.edu
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Ball
authors.forename: Shereen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kemps
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiggemann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image; D003463:Cues; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology; D004435:Eating; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D055815:Young Adult