Selective memory effects in agoraphobic patients

Abstract

Two experiments tested the view that agoraphobic patients show superior recall for phobic-related material relative to neutral material. In experiment 1, subjects recalled a series of 5 passages; 3 contained potentially phobic information and 2 contained neutral information. Phobic patients recalled more propositions from the phobic passages than did controls. In experiment 2, subjects completed 4 study-test trials with a list of 20 words: 10 phobic words and 10 neutral words. Patients recalled more phobic than neutral words while the reverse was the case for controls. Results are discussed in terms of the cognitive organization of phobic patients and are related to the proposal that phobics have a cognitive organization of situations labeled as dangerous. Possible sources of these selective memory effects are considered.