Research

Our research group studies memory, trauma, resilience, and information-processing biases (and their treatment) in people with anxiety and related disorders. Recent and current projects include:

Memory, Stress, and Trauma
We investigate how people remember stressful experiences, including traumatic ones, and how memory for these events affects mental health. Among our studies include ones on memory for guilt and shame-associated experiences (Robinaugh & McNally, 2010, Behaviour Research and Therapy PDF), memory distortion for traumatic stressors in veterans of the Iraq (Engelhard, van den Hout, & McNally, 2008, Memory PDF), and autobiographical memory in bereaved people with and without prolonged grief disorder (Robinaugh & McNally, ongoing).

People Reporting Unusual Recovered Memories
After completed studies on the cognitive psychology of people who report recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (summarized in McNally, in press, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation; McNally & Geraerts, 2009, Perspectives on Psychological Science PDF), we embarked on studies of people who report having recovered memories of space alien abduction (McNally, Lasko, Clancy, Macklin, Pitman, & Orr, 2004, Psychological Science PDF) and past lives (Meyersburg, Bogdan, Gallo, & McNally, 2009, Journal of Abnormal Psychology PDF). Current work concerns the motivations and correlates (e.g., heightened creativity) of people who report memories from previous lives; Meyersburg, Carson, & McNally, ongoing).

Trauma and Resilience
After having done work on risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among people exposed to trauma (McNally & Shin, 1995, American Journal of Psychiatry PDF), we have endeavored to ascertain variables (e.g., genetic variants) that buffer victims against PTSD. Studies span medical personnel serving in Iraq (Maguen, Turcotte, Peterson, Dremsa, Garb, McNally, & Litz, 2008, Military Medicine PDF) and adults who were sexually abused as children (McNally, Reese, Robinaugh, van Harmelen, & Smoller, ongoing).

Cognitive Aspects of Anxiety and Related Disorders
We conduct experiments designed to elucidate information-processing biases that may contribute to the maintenance, and perhaps the etiology, of these syndromes. Among these are studies concerning moral reasoning in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; Franklin, McNally, & Riemann, 2009, Journal of Anxiety Disorders PDF), cognitive characteristics of subclinical OCD hoarders (Luchian, McNally, & Hooley, 2007, Behaviour Research and Therapy PDF), and biases contributing to quasi-delusional thinking in patients with body dysmorphic disorder (Reese, McNally, & Wilhelm, in press, Behaviour Research and Therapy).

Attention Bias Modification Training in Anxiety Disorders
Using a form of cognitive bias modification, a set of computerized methods, we are conducting research on new methods for abolishing selective attention to threat -- a cognitive bias integral to anxiety and the anxiety disorders (Reese, McNally, Najmi, & Amir, 2010, Journal of Anxiety Disorders PDF). Our current research targets social and generalized anxiety using training on smartphones (Enock, Hofmann, & McNally, ongoing).