No abstract

No abstract

Research on collaborative remembering suggests that collaboration hampers group memory (i.e., collaborative inhibition), yet enhances later individual memory. Studies examining collaborative effects on memory for emotional stimuli are scarce, especially concerning later individual memory. In the present study, female undergraduates watched an emotional movie and recalled it either collaboratively (n = 60) or individually (n = 60), followed by an individual free recall test and a recognition test. We replicated the standard collaborative inhibition effect. Further, in line with the literature, the collaborative condition displayed better post-collaborative individual memory. More importantly, in post-collaborative free recall, the centrality of the information to the movie plot did not play an important role. Recognition rendered slightly different results. Although collaboration rendered more correct recognition for more central details, it did not enhance recognition of background details. Secondly, the collaborative and individual conditions did not differ with respect to overlap of unique correct items in free recall. Yet, during recognition former collaborators more unanimously endorsed correct answers, as well as errors. Finally, extraversion, neuroticism, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms did not moderate the influence of collaboration on memory. Implications for the fields of forensic and clinical psychology are discussed.

Cognitive models of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) postulate that cognitive biases in attention, interpretation, and memory represent key factors involved in the onset and maintenance of PTSD. Developments in experimental research demonstrate that it may be possible to manipulate such biases by means of Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM). In the present paper, we summarize studies assessing cognitive biases in posttraumatic stress to serve as a theoretical and methodological background. However, our main aim was to provide an overview of the scientific literature on CBM in (analogue) posttraumatic stress. Results of our systematic literature review showed that most CBM studies targeted attentional and interpretation biases (attention: five studies; interpretation: three studies), and one study modified memory biases. Overall, results showed that CBM can indeed modify cognitive biases and affect (analog) trauma symptoms in a training congruent manner. Interpretation bias procedures seemed effective in analog samples, and memory bias training proved preliminary success in a clinical PTSD sample. Studies of attention bias modification provided more mixed results. This heterogeneous picture may be explained by differences in the type of population or variations in the CBM procedure. Therefore, we sketched a detailed research agenda targeting the challenges for CBM in posttraumatic stress.

This study tested whether low attentional control set people at risk for experiencing undesirable intrusions. Participants completed measures of attentional control and neuroticism and subsequently watched an emotional film fragment. In the four days following the presentation of the fragment, half of the participants (n=17) were asked to keep a diary for the registration of intrusive memories. The other half of the participants (n=16) only rated the number of intrusions retrospectively during the follow-up session. Low attentional control had independent predicting properties for the development of intrusive symptoms in the diary group. No such relationship was found in the no-diary controls, probably due to the relatively low frequency of intrusive symptoms that was elicited in this group.Keywords Attentional control . Intrusive memories . Neuroticism . Intrusion diary One of the hallmark symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the repeated occurrence of unwanted intrusive memories of the traumatic event. It appears that most people, after having experienced a traumatic situation, get rid of these overwhelming intrusive memories within one month (see Rothbaum et al. 1992), while a minority of them will stay highly vulnerable for cues triggering involuntary memories and will eventually develop PTSD. Considering this, vulnerability for persistent involuntary reliving of former traumatic events could imply a dysfunction in the mechanisms of memory control.Germane to this, a series of recent cross-sectional studies using analogue samples provided evidence indicating that a relatively low level of executive control over the contents of working memory (i.e., working memory capacity [WMC]) is associated with a relatively frequent occurrence of intrusive cognitions (Brewin & Beaton 2002;Brewin & Smart 2005;Klein & Boals 2001). It has been proposed that individual differences in WMC are related to a domaingeneral capability to control attention, which is particularly important in situations involving proactive interference or conflict between competing response tendencies (Engle 2002). For example, in a study with normal undergraduate students, the frequency of experiencing intrusive memories and attempts to avoid such memories were relatively high in people who scored relatively low on a behavioral index of WMC (i.e., Operation Span; Klein & Boals 2001). In line with this, it has been shown (Brewin & Beaton 2002;Brewin & Smart 2005) that individuals with a relatively high WMC are better able to suppress unwanted thoughts. Finally, using a self-report measure of distractibility (which might be taken as an index of deficient attentional control) it was found that people who described themselves as highly distractible also reported a relatively high frequency of intrusive memories (Verwoerd & Wessel 2007). These J Psychopathol Behav Assess (2008) 30:291-297 DOI 10.1007 This research was supported by grant 452-03-329 of the Foundation for Behavioral and Educational Sciences of the Netherlands Organiz...