Implicit and explicit memory for emotion-congruent information in clinical depression and anxiety

Abstract

Implicit and explicit memory biases were assessed in clinically depressed (n = 19), clinically anxious (n = 17), and normal control (n = 18) Ss. The implicit memory test was a primed lexical decision task, with anxiety- and depression-relevant words, and suprathreshold and subthreshold primes. The explicit memory test was incidental free recall of self-referenced words. The depressed group showed greater suprathreshold and subthreshold priming effects for depression words, and recalled more depression words, than the other two groups. These results suggest that clinical depression, but not clinical anxiety, is associated with mood-congruent biases in both automatic and strategic memory processes.