IMPLICIT MEMORY BIAS IN CLINICAL AND NONCLINICAL DEPRESSION

Implicit memory for depression-relevant information was examined in no n-clinical subjects with high versus low levels of dysphoria (Experime nt 1), and in subjects who met DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for depre ssion versus normal controls (Experiment 2). The implicit memory test was a primed lexical decision task, with depression-relevant and neutr al words, and suprathreshold and subthreshold primes. In Experiment 1, dysphoric subjects showed greater subthreshold priming of depression words than non-dysphoric subjects. In Experiment 2, clinically depress ed individuals showed greater subthreshold and suprathreshold priming of depression words than normal non-depressed controls. The results co nfirmed those from previous studies using the primed lexical decision task to investigate implicit memory for negative information in depres sion (Bradley, Mogg & Williams, 1994, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 65-78; Bradley, Mogg & Williams, 1995, Behaviour Research and Ther apy, 33, 755-770). Implications for recent cognitive models of depress ion are discussed. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd