Continuity and discontinuity in memory for threat.

Using a paradigm that allows a quasi-continuous tracking of memory performance over time, two experiments were designed to test the hypotheses that (a) persons with a cognitively avoidant style of coping with threat manifest a dissociation between (intact) short-term and (reduced) long-term retrieval of aversive information and (b) persons with a vigilant coping style recall aversive information particularly well after long retention intervals, provided they are free to think about aversive events. Study 1 (N = 75) showed that avoiders manifest a poor memory for aversive pictures after long retention intervals only. Study 2 (N = 95) replicated this finding. In addition, manipulation of the …