Visual false memories in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
There is an ongoing debate whether or not patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more prone to produce false memories. The present study investigated this question using a visual variant of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, additionally addressing underlying mechanisms of false memory production (e.g., depression, dissociation, emotional valence, arousal). The visual paradigm was administered to 48 traumatized individuals with (n=20) and without PTSD (n=28) and 28 non-traumatized controls. Groups did not differ with regard to memory performance and memory confidence. False memories were correlated with depression. We recommend that future studies employ trauma-related material to further explore memory aberrations in PTSD.
Jelinek
Lena
L
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. l.jelinek@uke.uni-hamburg.de
Hottenrott
Birgit
B
Randjbar
Sarah
S
Peters
Maarten J
MJ
Moritz
Steffen
S
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*