Autobiographical memory and dysphoria: The effect of mood, gender, and cue type on generality and latency

This study investigated whether self-referential cognitive processes typically associated with depression also apply to dysphoria (mild depression). Specific focus was on bias in the autobiographical memories of dysphoric and non-dysphoric people associated with latency and generality. Possible gender differences and the impact of different cue types on responses were also explored. A sample of 25 men and 20 women completed an Autobiographical Memory Task that included positive, negative, and neutral cue words. Participants were allocated to dysphoric and non-dysphoric groups on the basis of scores on the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale Depression scale DASS-DS (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). As expected, dysphoric participants provided more general responses to positive cues than controls. However, the over-generality response in the dysphorics did not extend to negative cues. Gender differences were confined to neutral cues, with dysphoric women providing more over-general responses than non-dysphoric women and both groups of men. Unexpectedly, no latency bias was found in memory recall. Overall, results suggest over-generality is a feature of the cognitive processing of dysphoric individuals when they attempt to access positive personal memories.