Failure to replicate evidence for phobic schemata in agoraphobic patients.

Two experiments incorporating methodological refinements were conducted to replicate previous findings that agoraphobics selectively recall phobic material compared with normal subjects. In addition, patients with anxiety states but no phobic symptomatology were studied to assess whether selective recall is specific to agoraphobia or a feature of anxious patients generally. The results of both studies failed to replicate previous findings and fail to offer support for recent theorizing regarding the presence of cognitive differences between agoraphobics and normals.