Reduced Autobiographical Memory Specificity as a Mediating Factor between General Anxiety Symptoms and Performance on Problem-Solving Tasks

This study sought to further explain the association between general anxiety symptoms and impaired problem-solving by testing whether this occurs, in part, through a reduced ability to retrieve event-level, specific autobiographical memory (AM). Participants (N = 301; M age = 28.2 SD = 7.7, 55.8% female) completed assessments of the retrieval of specific AM, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and rumination. They then completed the Means-End Problem Solving Task, which assessed their ability to produce relevant problem-solving steps. Participants who were higher in anxiety reported a lesser number of relevant problem-solving steps, and this association was, in part, related to anxiety being associated with reduced AM specificity (after controlling for depressive symptoms). Rumination did not mediate anxiety and problem-solving, nor anxiety and AM specificity. These findings provide further evidence that elevated anxiety is associated with reduced ability to retrieve specific AM, and a specific cognitive pathway through which anxiety may affect problem-solving performance.