IMPLICIT MEMORY BIAS FOR THREAT IN PANIC DISORDER - APPLICATION OF THE WHITE-NOISE PARADIGM

We employed Jacoby's white noise paradigm to investigate implicit memo ry bias for threat in panic disorder and in normal control subjects. S ubjects heard a series of neutral sentences (e.g. ''The shiny apple sa t on the table'') and panic sentences (e.g. ''The anxious woman panick ed in the supermarket''). Implicit memory for this prior exposure was then tested by having subjects rate the volume of white noise accompan ying the presentation of 'old' sentences intermixed with 'new' sentenc es. Implicit memory for old sentences is revealed when subjects rate t he white noise accompanying these sentences as less loud than noise ac companying new sentences. Results revealed that under low noise level, panic patients demonstrated an implicit memory bias for threat inform ation, whereas control subjects did not. This differential priming eff ect suggests that information about threat may be automatically access ed in these patients.