TY - JOUR
AU - Merckelbach, Harald
AB -  This study investigated whether confronting phobic individuals with their feared object provides a laboratory approach for studying the effects of high emotion levels on memory for central (threat-relevant) and peripheral (threat-irrelevant) information. Twenty-two spider-phobic and 24 low-fear control subjects were exposed to one of two versions of a bulletin board to which central (spiders) and peripheral (babies and pens) stimuli were attached. During exposure to the stimuli, spider phobics displayed an increase in electrodermal activity. The results of a subsequent free-recall test indicate that relative to controls, spider phobics showed enhanced memory for central information and impaired memory for peripheral information. The free-recall data are consistent with an interpretation in terms of the attentional-narrowing hypothesis of emotional memory. 
TI - Memory for Threat-relevant and Threat-irrelevant Cues in Spider Phobics
JF - Cognition & Emotion
DO - 10.1080/026999398379790
DA - 1998-01-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/taylor-francis/memory-for-threat-relevant-and-threat-irrelevant-cues-in-spider-R16YIs7Zxj
SP - 93
EP - 104
VL - 12
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -