Reduced autobiographical memory specificity is associated with impaired discrimination learning in anxiety disorder patients.

ABSTRACT: Associative learning plays an important role in the development of anxiety disorders, but a thorough understanding of the variables that impact such learning is still lacking. We investigated whether individual differences in autobiographical memory specificity are related to discrimination learning and generalization. In an associative learning task, participants learned the association between two pictures of female faces and a non-aversive outcome. Subsequently, six morphed pictures functioning as generalization stimuli (GSs) were introduced. In a sample of healthy participants (Study 1), we did not find evidence for differences in discrimination learning as a function of memory specificity. In a sample of anxiety disorder patients (Study 2), individuals who were characterized by low me

SUBMITTER: Lenaert B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4487172 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature