Phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories for social and non-social events in social phobia

Abstract

Previous studies failed to show clear differences between people with social phobia and non-anxious individuals regarding the specificity and affective intensity of their autobiographical memories for social events. However, these studies did not assess the subjective experience associated with remembering. In this study, people with social phobia and non-anxious control participants recalled social and non-social events, and rated the phenomenal characteristics of their memories. The memories of people with social phobia for social events contained fewer sensorial details but more self-referential information than controls’ memories. In addition, people with social phobia remembered social situations from an observer perspective, viewing themselves as if from outside, to a greater extent than controls. By contrast, the two groups did not differ concerning their memories for non-social events. These findings are discussed in relation to cognitive models of social phobia.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Government of the French Community of Belgium (Direction de la Recherche Scientifique – Actions de Recherche Concertées, Convention 99/04-246). Arnaud D'Argembeau is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS). We would like to thank Bénédicte Lejeune for her help in participant recruitment and testing