School of Psychology, Cognitive Institute, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.
Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Anxiety Stress Coping. 2021 Jul;34(4):423-436. doi: 10.1080/10615806.2020.1870107. Epub 2021 Jan 8.
Media trauma in civilians is linked to intrusive imagery-based memory symptoms. We investigated whether mental imagery of the 9/11 terrorist attacks following media exposure is dampened by taxing working memory (WM).
Forty-five young adult UK residents, who were exposed to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as children via the media, identified a personally-relevant mental image of the attacks. They were then randomly allocated to: (1) recall + Tetris, (2) recall + eye movements (EMs), or (3) recall-only. Ratings on imagery vividness and emotionality were provided at three time points: pre-, post-manipulations, and at 24-hr follow-up.
Repeated measures ANOVAs revealed that recall + Tetris and recall + EMs (relative to recall-only) significantly reduced imagery vividness and emotionality from pre- to post-manipulations, but not to follow-up.
A passive control group is needed to fully rule out the role of natural memory decay; the follow-up was exploratory and took place outside the laboratory with reduced experimental control.
Aversive memory imagery from media trauma in civilians can be dampened by taxing WM, at least temporarily, which could be therapeutically useful. The use of such cognitive techniques may also hold relevance for public health approaches to address the impact of collective trauma.
平民中的媒体创伤与基于侵入性意象的记忆症状有关。我们研究了媒体暴露后对 911 恐怖袭击的心理意象是否会因工作记忆（WM）的负担而减弱。
45 名英国成年居民在儿童时期通过媒体接触到 911 恐怖袭击事件，他们确定了一个与袭击事件相关的个人心理意象。然后，他们被随机分配到以下三种情况之一：（1）回忆+俄罗斯方块，（2）回忆+眼球运动（EMs），或（3）仅回忆。在三个时间点（前测、后测和 24 小时随访）对意象的生动度和情感性进行评分。
重复测量方差分析显示，与仅回忆相比，回忆+俄罗斯方块和回忆+EMs（相对于仅回忆）显著降低了从前测到后测的意象生动度和情感性，但在随访时没有降低。
需要一个被动对照组来完全排除自然记忆衰减的作用；随访是探索性的，并且是在实验室外进行的，实验控制减少。
平民中的媒体创伤引起的厌恶记忆意象可以通过工作记忆的负担来减弱，至少是暂时的，这可能具有治疗意义。这种认知技术的使用也可能与公共卫生方法有关，以解决集体创伤的影响。
