Masked semantic priming of emotional information in subclinical depression

Most cognitive theories of depression (e.g., Beck, 1976; Ingram, 1984; Teas dale, 1988; Bower, 1981) assume that depressed individuals have an automati c processing bias for negative information (e.g., activation of negative ma terial in memory). In contrast, Williams, Watts, MacLeod, and Mathews (1988 ) proposed that depression is associated with a negative bias in controlled rather than automatic, memory processes. Two experiments investigated whet her there is an emotion-congruent bias in automatic (implicit) memory in su bclinical depression. The first used a primed lexical decision task with br iefly presented masked primes (prime-target stimulus onset asynchrony, SOA, of 56 msec), including both repetition priming and semantic priming condit ions. A depression-congruent priming bins was demonstrated in the semantic condition only. The second experiment examined the time course of the depre ssion-congruent semantic priming bias using 56- and 2000-msec SOAs, and con firmed its occurrence in the 56-msec SOA condition. Results of both experim ents are interpreted as consistent with a depression-congruent bins in auto matic memory processes. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed .