Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:22:46.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of depression on the speed of recall of pleasant and unpleasant experiences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

G. G. Lloyd  and
W. A. Lishman
G. G. Lloyd
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals and the Institute of Psychiatry, London
W. A. Lishman*
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals and the Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
Address for correspondence: W. A. Lishman, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London S.E.5.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

An experiment is described in which depressed patients were asked to recall pleasant or unpleasant experiences from their past life in response to a standard series of stimulus words. The ratio between the time for recall of pleasant and unpleasant experiences was found to fall progressively with increasing severity of depression or of ‘neuroticism’ and to be significantly related to each. Among patients who scored relatively low on depression or neuroticism pleasant memories were recalled more speedily than unpleasant; among those who scored high this relationship was reversed. Possible mechanisms to account for these findings are discussed.

Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , May 1975 , pp. 173 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Hock, J., and Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beebe-Center, J. G. (1932). The Psychology of Pleasantness and Unpleasantness. Reprinted 1965. Russell and Russell: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, H. J., and Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Flügel, J. C. (1925). A quantitative study of feeling and emotion in everyday life. British Journal of Psychology, 15, 318–355.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1901). The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Reprinted 1966. Benn: London.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E., and DiScipio, W. J. (1968). Eysenck Personality Inventory scores of patients with depressive illnesses. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 767–770.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lishman, W. A. (1972a). Selective factors in memory. Part 1: age, sex and personality attributes. Psychological Medicine, 2, 121–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lishman, W. A. (1972b). Selective factors in memory. Part 2: affective disorder. Psychological Medicine, 2, 248–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lishman, W. A. (1974). The speed of recall of pleasant and unpleasant experiences. Psychological Medicine, 4, 212–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGeoch, J. A. (1952). The Psychology of Human Learning. 2nd edn. revised by A. I. Irion. Longmans: New York.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Myers, J. K., Dienelt, M. N., Klerman, G. L., Lindenthal, J. J., and Pepper, M. P. (1969). Life events and depression. A controlled study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 21, 753–760.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapaport, D. (1942). Emotions and Memory. Williams and Wilkins: Baltimore.Google Scholar
Sharp, A. A. (1938). An experimental test of Freud's doctrine of the relation of hedonic tone to memory revival. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 22, 395–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Washburn, M. F., Booth, M. E., Stocker, S., and Glicksmann, E. (1926). A comparison of directed and free recalls of pleasant and unpleasant experiences, as tests of cheerful and depressed temperaments. American Journal of Psychology, 37, 278–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar