Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage, UMR CNRS 7295, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France.
UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, CHRU de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France.
J Trauma Stress. 2020 Oct;33(5):783-793. doi: 10.1002/jts.22531. Epub 2020 Jun 10.
Memory alterations and biases are core features of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Although a large number of studies have investigated memory biases associated with PTSS, some inconsistencies remain regarding the nature of the mechanisms behind the threat-related biases observed in prior findings. The present study explored the extent to which inhibitory deficits, both for automatic and controlled processes, can account for these biases. Participants (N = 64) took part in a remember/know recognition procedure for positive, neutral, negative, and trauma-related words associated with negative priming and directed forgetting encoding. Half of the participants had high levels of PTSS (i.e., PCL-5 score > 40) and half had low levels (i.e., total PCL-5 score < 20). As both negative priming and directed forgetting effects are posited to depend on inhibitory abilities, we expected these effects to be absent for trauma-related words in participants with more severe PTSS. Replicating classic memory biases, participants with high levels of PTSS produced more "remember" recognition responses for trauma-related words, η = .10. However, contrary to our expectations, directed forgetting, η = .26; and negative priming effects were observed for trauma-related words but not for words of other valences, η = .07 and .06, respectively. Hence, rather than the expected inhibitory deficits, our results suggest that PTSS preserve the ability to inhibit trauma-related information in both attentional and memory processes. As it appears to occur at the expense of other information, this preserved cognitive functioning for trauma-related stimuli is discussed with regard to resource reallocation theories.
记忆改变和偏向是创伤后应激症状（PTSS）的核心特征。尽管大量研究调查了与 PTSS 相关的记忆偏向，但在前人的发现中观察到的与威胁相关的偏向背后的机制性质仍存在一些不一致之处。本研究探讨了自动和受控过程的抑制缺陷在多大程度上可以解释这些偏向。参与者（N=64）参加了一个正面、中性、负面和与负面启动和定向遗忘编码相关的创伤相关单词的记得/知道识别程序。一半的参与者有较高的 PTSD 症状水平（即 PCL-5 得分>40），另一半有较低的 PTSD 症状水平（即总 PCL-5 得分<20）。由于负面启动和定向遗忘效应都被认为依赖于抑制能力，我们预计在 PTSD 症状更严重的参与者中，这些效应将不存在于与创伤相关的单词中。复制经典记忆偏向，高 PTSD 症状水平的参与者对与创伤相关的单词产生更多的“记得”识别反应，η=0.10。然而，与我们的预期相反，定向遗忘，η=0.26；和负面启动效应在与创伤相关的单词中观察到，但在其他词类中没有观察到，η=0.07 和 0.06。因此，我们的结果表明，PTSS 保留了在注意力和记忆过程中抑制与创伤相关信息的能力，而不是预期的抑制缺陷。由于这种保留的认知功能似乎是以牺牲其他信息为代价的，因此，我们将从资源重新分配理论的角度讨论与创伤相关的刺激相关的认知功能。
