Abstract
Following exposure to a trauma, people tend to experience intrusive thoughts and memories about the event. In order to investigate whether intrusive memories in the aftermath of trauma might be accounted for by an impaired ability to intentionally forget disturbing material, the present study used a modified Directed Forgetting task to examine intentional forgetting and intrusive recall of words in sexual assault victims and controls. By including words related to the trauma in addition to neutral, positive, and threat-related stimuli it was possible to test for trauma-specific effects. No difference between the Trauma and the Control group was found for correct recall of to-be-forgotten (F) words or to-be-remembered (R) words. However, when recalling words from R-list, the Trauma group mistakenly recalled significantly more trauma-specific words from F-list. “Intrusive“ recall of F-trauma words when asked to recall R-words was related to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder reported on the Impact of Event Scale and the Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale. The results are discussed in term of a source-monitoring account.
Highlights
After exposure to a trauma people often report intrusive thoughts and memories about the traumatic event (McNally, 2003), and these can be extremely persistent over many years
In order to investigate whether intrusive memories in the aftermath of trauma might be accounted for by an impaired ability to intentionally forget disturbing material, the present study used a modified Directed Forgetting task to examine intentional forgetting and intrusive recall of words in sexual assault victims and controls
We examined the relationship between trauma symptoms and depression symptoms and correct recall of R- and F-words
Summary
After exposure to a trauma people often report intrusive thoughts and memories about the traumatic event (McNally, 2003), and these can be extremely persistent over many years. Several models of cognitive functioning in PTSD have been proposed (e.g., Horowitz et al, 1979; Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Ehlers and Clark, 2000; Brewin, 2001; Rubin et al, 2008a). These theories do inform us about cognition in clinical PTSD, but can explain memory processes after trauma-exposure and development of persistent trauma symptoms in the aftermath of trauma. Integration in autobiographical memory is prevented by maladaptive strategies like avoidance and suppression of disturbing thoughts
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