Autobiographical memories associated with feared stimuli in fearful and nonfearful individuals

The present study examined characteristics of autobiographical memories retrieved by spider fearful ( n = 21), blood/injury fearful ( n = 27), and nonfearful individuals ( n = 25). Participants were presented with spider-related, blood/injury-related, and neutral cue words and instructed to retrieve the first specific personal memory that came to mind. Fearful individuals in both groups retrieved a higher percentage of negative memories than nonfearful individuals despite the fact that they did not report significantly higher levels of generally anxious or depressive symptoms. All participants retrieved memories reflecting direct encounters with stimuli more quickly and with greater specificity than memories reflecting indirect encounters with stimuli. It is concluded that fearful individuals are characterized by a bias toward the retrieval of generally negative memories, but there is no evidence for a cognitive bias toward the retrieval of negative memories particularly associated with their self-reported domain of fear.