Social Anxiety is Related to Worse Recognition Memory of Angry Faces

Many studies have examined attention biases as a risk factor of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Fewer studies have examined biases in memory, and the results are discrepant. Because memory depends on attention, it is possible that memory biases depend on whether stimuli are attended, such as when they are task-relevant. The aim of the present study was to investigate how social anxiety is associated with biased recognition memory of threatening social stimuli. Participants (N = 159) completed a task in which a semi-transparent face and house spatially overlapped. Participants were cued to identify the gender of the face or whether the house had a deck. 50% of the faces expressed anger, and 50% were neutral. Participants then completed a surprise recognition memory test. Social anxiety was associated with worse recognition of angry faces, but not neutral faces, regardless of whether the trial required them to attend to the face or the house. The finding did not hold for a broader measure of anxiety. Additionally, recognition memory of neutral faces was worse when they were not task-relevant, regardless of social anxiety. The results suggest that reduced memory of angry facial expressions is associated with social anxiety. Support was not found for the dependence of this bias on attention.