1. Trait anxiety, working memory capacity, and the effectiveness of memory suppression.
- Author
-
Waldhauser GT, Johansson M, Bäckström M, and Mecklinger A
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Anxiety psychology, Female, Humans, Individuality, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Personality, Personality Tests, Regression Analysis, Surveys and Questionnaires, Anxiety physiopathology, Memory, Short-Term physiology, Repression, Psychology
- Abstract
We aimed at replicating the finding that humans are able to suppress unwanted memories, and tested whether this ability varies with individual differences in working memory capacity, trait anxiety and defensiveness. In a think/no-think experiment, participants either recalled or suppressed previously learned words for 0, 8 or 16 times. Suppression did not have an overall detrimental effect on later recall performance. However, higher recall rates after repeated suppression were exclusively predicted by higher trait anxiety. These results are discussed in relation to current theories on anxiety and executive control., (© 2010 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2010 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.)
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF