Explicit and implicit memory biases and perception of risk among students with depression, anxiety or mixed disorder

Aim and The aim of this study was to investigate explicit and implicit memory biases in students of Alzahra University and Tehran University، Iran with depression، anxiety، mixed disorder and normal students. Methods and Materials: This research design was based on causal comparative design. 100 students of Alzahra University and Tehran University were chosen by cluster random sampling method. They were given Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) test، Beck Depression Inventory، and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Subjects were asked to decode the words and recall them. Then they answered the free recall tasks which assessed memory biases. Data were analyzed by SPSS software and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and student’s t-test. Based on recalling the words (positive، negative and threatening emotions) there was a significant difference between implicit memory under difficult and easy situations and explicit memory in groups (P < 0. 001). The bias in depressed، anxious، and mixed depression anxiety groups were more in their implicit memory than explicit memory. They recalled the emotionally negative and threating words under difficult situations less. Results showed that the mixed depression anxiety group recalled words similar to depressed group than anxious group.