AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF THREAT-RELATED PRIMING ON MEMORY FOR THREAT-RELATED MATERIAL IN NORMAL SUBJECTS

The research literature provides few examples of memory biases for threat-related material in anxious subjects. Those studies which do show effects have used a priming methodology with sub-clinically anxious individuals. The present study reports two experiments examining the memory performance of non-anxious individuals which are designed to investigate whether the use of a prime alone (in the absence of an anxious state) is sufficient to produce a threat-related memory bias. The results provide strong evidence for such a bias using a priming methodology. The theoretical implications of these data are discussed.