Department of Psychology.
Psychol Trauma. 2015 Jan;7(1):67-75. doi: 10.1037/a0036787. Epub 2014 Jun 2.
We investigated the relationship of implicit and explicit memory to a range of symptoms in a sample of 27 women with exposure to chronic interpersonal violence (IPV). Participants viewed the first 3 letters ("stems") of trauma-related, general threat, and neutral words; valenced words were matched with neutral words with the same stem. Free recall and a word-stem completion task were used to test explicit and implicit memory, respectively. Participants exhibited increased implicit memory for trauma-related words as compared with both general threat words and neutral "match" words. They also showed increased explicit memory for both general threat and trauma-related words. Finally, although neither implicit nor explicit memory was correlated with PTSD symptoms, implicit memory for trauma-related words was significantly correlated with symptoms associated with ongoing IPV. Interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, and alexithymia were significantly correlated with implicit, but not explicit, memory for trauma words. Somatization, dissociation, and alexithymia were negatively correlated with explicit, but not implicit, memory for general-threat words. These findings suggest that memory processes in survivors of IPV are closely related to the symptom profile associated with complex trauma. Exploring memory processes in survivors of IPV may lend unique insight into the development and maintenance of the symptom profile associated with IPV.
我们调查了 27 名长期遭受人际暴力（IPV）的女性样本中内隐和外显记忆与一系列症状之间的关系。参与者观看了与创伤相关的、一般威胁的和中性词的前 3 个字母（“词干”）；有感情色彩的词与具有相同词干的中性词相匹配。自由回忆和词干完成任务分别用于测试外显记忆和内隐记忆。与一般威胁词和中性“匹配”词相比，参与者对与创伤相关的词表现出更强的内隐记忆。他们还表现出对一般威胁词和创伤相关词的外显记忆增强。最后，尽管内隐和外显记忆都与 PTSD 症状无关，但与持续 IPV 相关的症状与创伤相关词的内隐记忆显著相关。人际敏感、敌意和述情障碍与创伤词的内隐记忆显著相关，但与外显记忆无关。躯体化、分离和述情障碍与一般威胁词的外显记忆呈负相关，但与内隐记忆无关。这些发现表明，IPV 幸存者的记忆过程与与复杂创伤相关的症状特征密切相关。探索 IPV 幸存者的记忆过程可能会为 IPV 相关症状特征的发展和维持提供独特的见解。
