| This paper begins with a thorough review of the literature on memory biases in the anxiety disorders. A study drawing on lessons learned from the review is then put forth to examine memory biases in individuals with social phobia (SP). The study of memory biases in individuals with SP is important as such biases are proposed to play an important role in the development or maintenance of anxious states. Specifically, the proposed study examined memory for critical and accepting faces using (a) a visual analogue of Jacoby, Allan, Collins, and Larwill's (1988) white noise judgment paradigm to assess implicit memory biases and (b) a recognition test to assess explicit memory biases for critical versus accepting faces among persons with SP and non-anxious control participants (NACs). The visual adaptation of the white noise paradigm did not yield a reliable index of implicit memory, thereby limiting the examination of an implicit memory bias for critical faces in SP. Regarding the recognition task (hits minus false alarms), between and within group differences were not found on corrected recognition scores or a measure of sensitivity (D prime). However, groups were found to have different patterns of response bias (Beta) according to face type. Specifically, NACs showed a response bias towards indicating that accepting faces were previously seen, whereas this bias was not evident in the SP group. This suggests that response bias may play an important role in understanding apparent memory differences in SPs as compared to NACs. Comparable levels of verbal ability suggest that group differences in memory are not likely to be attributable to differences in general intelligence. The paper ends with an integration of the current findings into the existing literature and by highlighting lessons learned. |
