What doesn't kill you makes you stronger: Psychological trauma and its relationship to enhanced memory control.

Justin C Hulbert,Michael C Anderson

doi:10.1037/xge0000461

Justin C Hulbert, Michael C Anderson

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000461

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Abstract

Control processes engaged in halting the automatic retrieval of unwanted memories have been shown to reduce the later recallability of the targets of suppression. Like other cognitive skills that benefit from practice, we hypothesized that memory control is similarly experience dependent, such that individuals with greater real-life experience at stopping retrieval would exhibit better inhibitory control over unwanted memories. Across two experiments, we found that college students reporting a greater history of trauma exhibited more suppression-induced forgetting of both negative and neutral memories than did those in a matched group who had reported experiencing little to no trauma. The association was especially evident on a test of suppression-induced forgetting involving independent retrieval cues that are designed to better isolate the effects of inhibitory control on memory. Participants reporting more trauma demonstrated greater generalized forgetting of suppressed material. These findings raise the possibility that, given proper training, individuals can learn to better manage intrusive experiences, and are broadly consistent with the view that moderate adversity can foster resilience later in life.

Highlights

Control processes engaged in halting the automatic retrieval of unwanted memories have been shown to reduce the later recallability of the targets of suppression
Our current findings suggest that memory control processes engaged during retrieval suppression may play an important role in the adaptation that typically occurs after a trauma and to the building of future resilience
Our findings suggest that traumatic experiences—as horrible as they may be—might naturally contribute to the adaptation of cognitive control skills, thereby improving many survivors’ later resilience, at least those who experienced only moderate levels of trauma

Summary

Introduction

Control processes engaged in halting the automatic retrieval of unwanted memories have been shown to reduce the later recallability of the targets of suppression. Like other cognitive skills that benefit from practice, we hypothesized that memory control is experience dependent, such that individuals with greater real-life experience at stopping retrieval would exhibit better inhibitory control over unwanted memories. The association was especially evident on a test of suppression-induced forgetting involving independent retrieval cues that are designed to better isolate the effects of inhibitory control on memory. Participants reporting more trauma demonstrated greater generalized forgetting of suppressed material These findings raise the possibility that, given proper training, individuals can learn to better manage intrusive experiences, and are broadly consistent with the view that moderate adversity can foster resilience later in life. Cortical thickness of the affected regions, which were broadly consistent with those engaged in retrieval suppression (Anderson & Hanslmayr, 2014), predicted recovery from PTSD symptoms, such as memory intrusions. Comparable fronto-parietal control regions are engaged during suppression of neutral and negative content (e.g., Anderson et al, 2004; Butler & James, 2010; Depue, Curran, & Banich, 2007; Gagnepain, Hulbert, & Anderson, 2017; see Anderson & Hanslmayr, 2014, for a review), and successful engagement of these regions to suppress retrieval reduces negative affect associated with unpleasant images (Gagnepain et al, 2017)

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