Overgeneral Memory in Binge Eating Disorder is Linked to Binge Frequency

Abstract

Research on memory biases in binge eating disorder (BED) has primarily analyzed the content of disorder specific thoughts such as memory for eating, shape and weight related words. By investigating recall of autobiographical memories (AM) in individuals with BED, this study primarily focused on recollection strategies. Such strategies include individuals' number of recalled specific and categoric AM on the autobiographical memory test (AMT) and have previously been shown to be implicated in the maintenance of emotional disorders. Thirty women with BED and 24 overweight healthy controls (HC) were compared on the AMT with six positively and six negatively valenced cues. Women with BED retrieved more categoric memories and produced more omissions to positively valenced cues than HC. There was also a significant and positive correlation of categoric memories and binge frequency, suggesting that overgenerality may function as a maintenance factor of eating pathology in BED.