Manifestation of memory bias in daily life in currently and remitted depressed individuals: How accurate is recall of past mood states?

Depression is characterized by a loss of positive and pronounced negative memory bias, which persists after remission. While theoretical accounts of depressive realism, emotional inertia, and mood-congruency substantiate the compelling evidence of weakpositive memory in depression, they cannotfully explainnegative memory bias in depression. We appliedan Ecologically Momentary Assessment (EMA) measure of memory bias to provide insight into the accuracy and depression state-dependency of recall of previous positive and negative mood states. Currently-(n=46), remitted-(n=90), and never-depressed individuals (n=55) provided positive and negative mood ratings (7x/day for six days), while also recalling their recent(i.e., previous prompt; 3x/day) or distal (i.e., one day lag; 1x/day) mood states. Currently depressed individuals displayed most accuracy and hence least bias in recall of both positive and negative mood; with accuracy in currently and remitted depressed individuals being independent of their current mood state. Conversely, mood at the time of recall significantly related to memory accuracy among never-depressed individuals with more negative mood,resulting in a depressotypic memory bias. Results are consistent with depressive realism and mood-congruency accounts,as well as with evidence for loss of positive memory bias (but not for negative memory bias) in depression