The impact of rumination on memory for self-referent material

Abstract Previous findings have linked rumination to the enhanced retrieval of negative memories (Lyubormirsky, Caldwell, & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998) and overgeneral autobiographical memories (Watkins & Teasdale, 2004) in depression. However, little is known of the impact of rumination on the encoding of information, and in particular, self-referent information. This study examined the impact of rumination on self-referent encoding in high (BDI-II≥13) and low (BDI-II≤5) dysphoric participants. Participants were randomly allocated to a rumination or distraction condition, and then completed the experimental task in which they rated a series of adjectives (positive, negative) as either self- or other-descriptive, and later received a memory test for the adjectives. Not surprisingly, high-dysphoric participants endorsed more negative and less positive adjectives as self-descriptive. Counter to our prediction, high-dysphoric participants allocated to the rumination condition did not endorse more negative adjectives as self-referent. However, consistent with our hypothesis, high-dysphoric participants who ruminated recalled more negative self-referent words, after controlling for the proportion of words endorsed as self-descriptive. The findings demonstrate that rumination results in enhanced memory for negative, self-related material, and raises the possibility that this may serve as another pathway via which the negative evaluations of the self observed clinically in depression are maintained. Acknowledgements This research was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council awarded to Michelle Moulds (DP0557728). We are grateful to Tamara Lang for her assistance with the preparation of the manuscript. Notes 1Due to lower depression levels in our undergraduate sample, a lower BDI-II score than recommended by Beck et al. (Citation1996) was used as a cut-off in the selection of high-dysphoric participants (i.e., BDI-II = 13, rather than the recommended BDI-II = 14).