Source memory errors associated with reports of posttraumatic flashbacks: A proof of concept study

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Chris R. Brewin ; Zoe Huntley ; Matthew G. Whalley
• 关键词：PTSD ; False memory ; Flashbacks ; Trauma ; Imagery
• 刊名：Cognition
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：August, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：124
• 期：2
• 页码：234-238
• 全文大小：171 K

文摘

Flashbacks are involuntary, emotion-laden images experienced by individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The qualities of flashbacks could under certain circumstances lead to source memory errors. Participants with PTSD wrote a trauma narrative and reported the experience of flashbacks. They were later presented with stimuli from flashback and non-flashback parts of their narrative, mixed with foils from the narrative of another participant, and judged whether they belonged to their own narrative. They also reported whether stimuli elicited a flashback during this recognition test. Overall reporting a flashback at test was associated with significantly better recognition performance. Flashbacks were occasionally reported to foil stimuli, which were then likely to be wrongly attributed to the person¡¯s own narrative. This provides proof of concept of a cognitive mechanism that could potentially account for some cases of false trauma memories.