Intact but vulnerable: Affective working memory in social anxiety disorder

This review examines how emotionally and socially threatening stimuli impair working memory processes in people with social anxiety disorder, showing that while general working memory capacity may be intact, deficits emerge specifically when tasks involve threat-related content or require executive control under stress. The authors propose affective working memory as a core mechanism linking cognitive, emotional, and social dysfunction in SAD and recommend targeted assessments and interventions focusing on emotion regulation.