Attachment and Emotional Memory: Investigating the Source and Extent of Avoidant Memory Impairments

Attachment avoidance has been associated with impairments in memory for material with emotional, attachment-related themes (e.g., loss). In the present study the author investigated the source and extent of these memory deficits by examining working memory capacity for attachment-related and nonatta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2006-05, Vol.6 (2), p.340-345
Main Author: Edelstein, Robin S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect
Affectivity. Emotion
Anxiety - psychology
Attachment Behavior
Attention
Avoidance
Biological and medical sciences
Emotions
Escape Reaction
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Individual Differences
Learning. Memory
Male
Memory
Mental Recall
Object Attachment
Personality
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Short Term Memory
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Attachment avoidance has been associated with impairments in memory for material with emotional, attachment-related themes (e.g., loss). In the present study the author investigated the source and extent of these memory deficits by examining working memory capacity for attachment-related and nonattachment-related material. Avoidance was associated with deficits in working memory for positive and negative attachment-related stimuli. However, avoidance was unrelated to working memory capacity for nonattachment-related stimuli, both emotional and nonemotional. These findings are consistent with the proposal that avoidant individuals defensively limit the processing of potentially distressing information. Attachment anxiety was unrelated to working memory capacity across word type. Implications of the findings for defensive strategies and emotional memory are discussed.
ISSN:1528-3542
1931-1516
DOI:10.1037/1528-3542.6.2.340