Dissociative tendencies and memory performance on directed-forgetting tasks.
The current article presents two studies that aimed to replicate DePrince and Freyd's (2001, 2004) studies demonstrating that high and low dissociators differentially recall neutral and trauma words under conditions of varying cognitive load. We did not find this effect. This lack of replication was apparent for both free recall and word recognition memory and in both studies. In effect, we found little evidence to support betrayal trauma theory, yet observed increased memory fallibility, as demonstrated by lower general recall and (in one study) commission errors, in high dissociators.
Devilly
Grant J
GJ
Brain Sciences Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. gdevilly@swin.edu.au
Ciorciari
Joseph
J
Piesse
Amy
A
Sherwell
Sarah
S
Zammit
Sonia
S
Cook
Fallon
F
Turton
Christie
C
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D001315:Australia; D003071:Cognition; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D018401:Sample Size; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis