title: Imagery Rescripting: The Impact of Conceptual and Perceptual Changes on Aversive Autobiographical Memories.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Imagery rescripting (ImRs) is a process by which aversive autobiographical memories are rendered less unpleasant or emotional. ImRs is thought only to be effective if a change in the meaning-relevant (semantic) content of the mental image is produced, according to a cognitive hypothesis of ImRs. We propose an additional hypothesis: that ImRs can also be effective by the manipulation of perceptual features of the memory, without explicitly targeting meaning-relevant content.
  
  
  METHODS
  In two experiments using a within-subjects design (both N = 48, community samples), both Conceptual-ImRs-focusing on changing meaning-relevant content-and Perceptual-ImRs-focusing on changing perceptual features-were compared to Recall-only of aversive autobiographical image-based memories. An active control condition, Recall + Attentional Breathing (Recall+AB) was added in the first experiment. In the second experiment, a Positive-ImRs condition was added-changing the aversive image into a positive image that was unrelated to the aversive autobiographical memory. Effects on the aversive memory's unpleasantness, vividness and emotionality were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Experiment 1, compared to Recall-only, both Conceptual-ImRs and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in unpleasantness, and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in emotionality of memories. In Experiment 2, the effects on unpleasantness were not replicated, and both Conceptual-ImRs and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in emotionality, compared to Recall-only, as did Positive-ImRs. There were no effects on vividness, and the ImRs conditions did not differ significantly from Recall+AB.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that, in addition to traditional forms of ImRs, targeting the meaning-relevant content of an image during ImRs, relatively simple techniques focusing on perceptual aspects or positive imagery might also yield benefits. Findings require replication and extension to clinical samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christien
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Slofstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maaike H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nauta
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom.|Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Emily A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.|Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Claudi L H
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Bockting
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019018:Imagery, Psychotherapy; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D064866:Mindfulness; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult