title: Investigating the variability of memory distortion for an analogue trauma.
abstract: In this paper, we examine whether source monitoring (SM) errors might be one mechanism that accounts for traumatic memory distortion. Participants watched a traumatic film with some critical (crux) and non-critical (non-crux) scenes removed. Twenty-four hours later, they completed a memory test. To increase the likelihood participants would notice the film's gaps, we inserted visual static for the length of each missing scene. We then added manipulations designed to affect people's SM behaviour. To encourage systematic SM, before watching the film, we warned half the participants that we had removed some scenes. To encourage heuristic SM some participants also saw labels describing the missing scenes. Adding static highlighting, the missing scenes did not affect false recognition of those missing scenes. However, a warning decreased, while labels increased, participants' false recognition rates. We conclude that manipulations designed to affect SM behaviour also affect the degree of memory distortion in our paradigm.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY , New York , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Deryn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Strange
authors.forename: Melanie K T
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Takarangi
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal; D001288:Attention; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007600:Judgment; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009040:Motion Pictures; D009042:Motivation; D010469:Perceptual Distortion; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012718:Set, Psychology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Memory distortion; Source monitoring; Traumatic memory