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Autobiographical memory of traumatic experiences: what are the…

- - - - Testing the dual representation theory:
        
        Several findings have shown an association between PTSD and a specific deficit in allocentric spatial processing + that greater efficiency of temporal-lobe-based spatial configuration learning predicts fewer intrusive trauma memories of a trauma film
        
        Funn: individuals who had lesser contextual (allocentric) memory abilities were, as predicted, more vulnerable to developing involuntary memories of a traumatic film over the following week (Bisby et al., 2010). The naturally occurring intrusive memories of such individuals are also more strongly characterized by a lack of temporal context.
        
        The kind of contextual-encoding deficit described by dual representation and other theories may lead to subsequent inappropriate generalization of past learning to novel situations in the form of either over- or undergeneralization
        
        The prediction that PTSD patients should therefore be equivalent to controls in learning initial stimulus–outcome associations but show a selective deficit in generalizing this learning to novel situations was recently confirmed (Levy-Gigi et al., 2012).
        
        PS - contextualization: a process whereby selective attention leads to a recoding of the sensory input into an abstract structural description. This recoding then permits interaction with other knowledge, better organized consciously accessible memories, and reduced involuntary intrusions.
        The distinction between perceptual and episodic memory also provides an account of the apparently paradoxical effect, whereby repeatedly rehearsing a trauma memory in therapy leads to a reliable reduction in symptoms including the involuntary recall of that memory.
        
        According to dual representation theory, by retrieving the distressing images and holding them in conscious attention, stronger C-reps are formed that provide a context for the memory in time and place. Further, associations between corresponding C-reps and S-reps are strengthened.
        
        Now, when reminders are encountered, the memories retrieved are contextualized and are experienced as belonging to the past rather than being a source of danger in the present. This account is compatible with many contemporary theories of human and animal cognition (Gold, 2004; Kesner & Rogers, 2004; Poldrack & Packard, 2003) that favor the idea that learning produces a variety of new representations that can collaborate or compete with existing memories for control of behavior
        
        Retrieval competition between alternative representations features strongly in the literature on verbal overshadowing (Brandimonte & Collina, 2008; Schooler & Engstler-Schooler, 1990), and has similarly been incorporated into several models of therapeutic change (Bjork & Bjork, 2006; Brewin, 2006).
        
        The distinction between perceptual and episodic representations may assist in explaining some instances of false memory creation.
        
        Study (Brewin, Huntley, & Whalley, 2012): participants with PTSD wrote a trauma narrative + reported during what parts of the narrative they experienced flashbacks.They were later presented with stimuli from flashback and nonflashback parts of their narrative, mixed with foil stimuli, and judged whether they belonged to their own narrative. They also reported whether stimuli elicited a flashback during this recognition test.
        
        Findings:
        
        Overall, reporting a flashback at test was associated with significantly better recognition performance.
        
        However, flashbacks were occasionally reported to foil stimuli, which were then significantly more likely to be wrongly attributed to the person’s own narrative.
        
        These findings illustrate how perceptual and episodic memory systems under some conditions may collaborate to improve recall but under other conditions compete, potentially accounting for some cases of false trauma memories.