All’s Bad That Ends Bad: There Is a Peak-End Memory Bias in Anxiety

Abstract

The peak-end memory bias has been well documented for the retrospective evaluation of pain. It describes that the retrospective evaluation of pain is largely based on the discomfort experienced at the most intense point (peak) and at the end of the episode. This is notable because it means that longer episodes with a better ending can be remembered as less aversive than shorter ones; this is even if the former had the same peak in painfulness and an overall longer duration of pain. Until now, this bias has not been studied in the domain of anxiety despite the high relevance of variable levels of anxiety in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Therefore, we set out to replicate the original studies but with an induction of variable levels of anxiety. Of 64 women, half watched a clip from a horror movie which ended at the most frightening moment. The other half watched an extended version of this clip with a moderately frightening ending. Afterward, all participants were asked to rate the global anxiety which was elicited by the video. When the film ended at the most frightening moment, participants retrospectively reported more anxiety than participants who watched the extended version. This is the first study to document that the peak-end bias can be found in the domain of anxiety. These findings require replication and extension to a treatment context to evaluate its implications for exposure therapy.

Effect of the trajectory of exertional breathlessness on symptom recall and anticipation: A randomized controlled trial

“…For example, Meek and colleagues studied recall of breathlessness during daily life over a long period while by Müller et al studied anxiety. Also, neither Meek nor Müller adjusted the end sensation intensity for peak intensity [8,24]. The finding that peak breathlessness and not end breathlessness predicted recall could in fact explain the study results.…”

“…The recall of symptom intensity is affected by several factors including the experienced peak intensity and the intensity at the end of the episode [5][6][7]. This 'Peak-end rule' has been reported in studies of pain [5,7], anxiety [8] and in breathlessness in daily life [9] and during exercise [10]. Evidence from pain suggest that the trajectory of the symptom affects the person's symptom recall and evaluation of the situation [5].…”

“…The intervention group lacked one value regarding recalled performance and one value regarding physical capacity. Abbreviations: Borg CR10 = Borg Category-ratio scale (0-10); Borg RPE = Borg rating of perceived exertion scale (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20).…”

Dealing With the COVID-19 Infodemic: Distress by Information, Information Avoidance, and Compliance With Preventive Measures

“…In line with this, levels of anxiety and acceptance of preventive measures declined after the contact restrictions were relaxed in Germany ( Betsch et al, 2020a ). Such changes in emotional salience may bias retrospective evaluation of the crisis, as individuals tend to rate events less aversive once the peak of anxiety has passed ( Müller et al, 2019 ). In light of this, a continuous emphasis on the benefits of receiving information and the necessity of preventive behaviors is pivotal to crisis management ( Betsch et al, 2020a ).…”

The Hedonics of Debt

“…It should be noted that there have been various explanations for why peak-end and duration-insensitivity phenomena might be observed, ranging from, for example, conversational norms to memory biases to the meaningfulness of an experience’s end or resolution ( Rozin and Stellar, 2009 ; Kahneman, 2011 ; Xu et al, 2011 ; O’Brien and Ellsworth, 2012 ; Blanchard et al, 2014 ; Schafer et al, 2014 ; Tully and Meyvis, 2016 ; Rozin and Rozin, 2018 ; cf. Müller et al, 2019 ). In the present paper, we expect effects are driven primarily by attention.…”