The relationship between personality traits of behavioural inhibition/ activation systems and conceptual implicit memory bias based on the Transfer Appropriate Processing (TAP) framework

The aim of the present research was to examine the relationship between personality traits of the behavioural inhibition/ activation systems with explicit and conceptual implicit memory bias based on the Transfer Appropriate Processing (TAP) framework. This research was a qusi-experimental design that mixed with within group and between group designs. For this purpose, 60 participants (30 outpatient depressed participants for the experimental group and 30 non-depressed participants for the control group) were selected as research sample based on psychiatric interviews in accordance with DSM-IV criteria. In order to examine behavioural inhibition / activation systems BIS/BA scale was used (Carver and White, 1994). For examining implicit memory bias, generation task (conceptual encoding) and lexical decision task were used. For examining explicit memory bias, free recall task was used. Participants were completing the tasks individually. The results showed that Participants with high scores in behavioural inhibition system in comparison with participants with high score in behavioural activation system, showed more implicit and explicit memory bias toward negative words at the conceptual processing level. Participants with high scores in behavioural activation system in comparison with participants with high scores in behavioural inhibition system showed more implicit and explicit memory bias toward positive words at the level of conceptual level. These findings overall showed that employing conceptual processing, Mood-Congruency hypothesis, Trait-Congruency hypothesis and the transfer appropriate processing (TAP) altogether in implicit memory bias would lead to a better understanding of implicit memory.