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Falon SL, Jobson L, Liddell BJ. Does culture moderate the encoding and recognition of negative cues? Evidence from an eye-tracking study. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0295301. [PMID: 38630733 PMCID: PMC11023573 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Cross-cultural research has elucidated many important differences between people from Western European and East Asian cultural backgrounds regarding how each group encodes and consolidates the contents of complex visual stimuli. While Western European groups typically demonstrate a perceptual bias towards centralised information, East Asian groups favour a perceptual bias towards background information. However, this research has largely focused on the perception of neutral cues and thus questions remain regarding cultural group differences in both the perception and recognition of negative, emotionally significant cues. The present study therefore compared Western European (n = 42) and East Asian (n = 40) participants on a free-viewing task and a subsequent memory task utilising negative and neutral social cues. Attentional deployment to the centralised versus background components of negative and neutral social cues was indexed via eye-tracking, and memory was assessed with a cued-recognition task two days later. While both groups demonstrated an attentional bias towards the centralised components of the neutral cues, only the Western European group demonstrated this bias in the case of the negative cues. There were no significant differences observed between Western European and East Asian groups in terms of memory accuracy, although the Western European group was unexpectedly less sensitive to the centralised components of the negative cues. These findings suggest that culture modulates low-level attentional deployment to negative information, however not higher-level recognition after a temporal interval. This paper is, to our knowledge, the first to concurrently consider the effect of culture on both attentional outcomes and memory for both negative and neutral cues.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Laura Jobson
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
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Li C, Otgaar H, Battista F, Muris P, Wang J. Challenging memories reduces intrusive memories and the memory amplification effect. Memory 2023; 31:1039-1050. [PMID: 37259856 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2218631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
This study scrutinizes the influence of attenuating beliefs about the veracity of traumatic experiences on the manifestation of intrusive recollections and the memory amplification effect. Participants were exposed to distress-inducing visual stimuli, subsequently rating their emotional status pre and post exposure. They engaged in a recognition task, identifying scenarios within the stimuli. Participants' recall was contested, casting doubt about the occurrence of certain scenes. Subsequently, they maintained a daily log of intrusive memories over a week. A second session reiterated the same process. This method effectively diminished the certainty in the participants' traumatic memories. Scenes whose occurrence was contested demonstrated a significant decline in both intrusive memories and memory amplification when juxtaposed with uncontested ones. Interestingly, no significant correlation emerged between the diminished belief in traumatic incidents and reductions in intrusive memory or memory amplification. Thus, this study advocates that interrogating the veracity of traumatic recollections can mitigate the prevalence of intrusive memories and the memory amplification effect, suggesting a novel potential therapeutic approach for trauma-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunlin Li
- Faculty of Law and Criminology, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Henry Otgaar
- Faculty of Law and Criminology, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Fabiana Battista
- Faculty of Law and Criminology, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Peter Muris
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
| | - Jianqin Wang
- Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
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Bücken CA, Mangiulli I, Uzun S, Otgaar H. False denials increase false memories for trauma-related discussions. Memory 2022; 30:1158-1171. [PMID: 35786402 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2022.2094964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
False denials are sometimes used to cope with traumatic experiences. We examined whether false denials can affect true and false memory production for a traumatic event and conversations surrounding the trauma. One hundred and twenty-six participants watched a trauma analogue video of a car crash before being randomly asked in a discussion with the experimenter to (1) respond honestly or (2) falsely deny that certain details happened in the video. After one week, all participants received misinformation about the discussion with the experimenter and the car crash. Finally, all participants were instructed to respond truthfully in a source memory task. Participants who falsely denied information during the first session were statistically significantly more prone than honest participants to omit details they denied and to report misinformation about what was discussed in the first session. Our work suggests that false denials of a traumatic experience might lead to both forgetting and increased false memory levels for earlier conversations about the event.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte A Bücken
- Faculty of Law and Criminology, Leuven Institute of Criminology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Forensic Psychology Section, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Ivan Mangiulli
- Faculty of Law and Criminology, Leuven Institute of Criminology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Forensic Psychology Section, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.,Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Semiha Uzun
- Faculty of Law and Criminology, Leuven Institute of Criminology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Henry Otgaar
- Faculty of Law and Criminology, Leuven Institute of Criminology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Forensic Psychology Section, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
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Nahleen S, Strange D, Nixon RDV, Takarangi MKT. Encouraging source‐monitoring after post‐event information exposure for analogue trauma. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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Nahleen S, Strange D, Takarangi MKT. Does emotional or repeated misinformation increase memory distortion for a trauma analogue event? PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 85:2453-2465. [PMID: 32885342 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01409-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
In general, memory of highly negative and even traumatic events can distort. However, the effect of misinformation exposure on such memories requires further investigation given the inconsistent past findings. With two experiments, we investigated: (1) whether misinformation distorts memory for highly negative analogue events, (2) whether memory distortion is increased for more emotional and potentially traumatic details compared to unemotional details, and (3) whether repeated misinformation exposure further increases memory distortion for highly negative events compared to single exposure, a possibility that has not been investigated to our knowledge. In both experiments, participants viewed a trauma analogue film with some scenes removed. Twenty-four hours later, they were given three "eyewitness" reports describing the film's events. To manipulate misinformation repetition, either zero, one, or all three of the reports described removed scenes. To determine whether memory distortion is increased for emotional details, half of the removed scenes were more traumatic than the other half. Participants exposed to misinformation falsely remembered more removed scenes compared to participants who were not exposed to misinformation. Further, memory distortion was increased for emotional (vs. unemotional) aspects of the film. Repeated misinformation exposure, however, did not lead to significantly higher error rates compared to single exposure. The lack of perceptual overlap between our written misinformation and film test items may have limited false memories even with repeated misinformation. Alternatively, the repeated vs. single misinformation effect may exist but be very small, as suggested by our raw means and effect sizes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sasha Nahleen
- College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia
| | - Deryn Strange
- John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, New York, USA
| | - Melanie K T Takarangi
- College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia.
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Chan E, Paterson HM, van Golde C. The effects of repeatedly recalling a traumatic event on eyewitness memory and suggestibility. Memory 2018; 27:536-547. [PMID: 30319034 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2018.1533563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The aims of this study were to examine the effects of repeatedly recalling a traumatic event on recall performance and eyewitness suggestibility. We also investigated whether these effects were moderated by the type of details recalled and the completeness of retrieval. Participants watched a video depicting a fatal car accident and were randomly allocated to one of four conditions in which they: (1) repeatedly recalled the traumatic (central) details of the event only (trauma-focused); (2) repeatedly recalled the non-traumatic (peripheral) details of the event only (non-trauma focused); (3) repeatedly recalled the entire video (complete); or (4) did not recall the video at all (no-recall control). Results indicated that repeated complete recall was beneficial for memory retention of the entire traumatic event and that, in general, trauma-related (central) post-event information (PEI) was less likely to be reported than trauma-unrelated (peripheral) PEI. It was also found that repeated trauma-focused recall increased trauma-related confabulations. These results not only illustrate the value of repeated complete recall to best preserve the integrity of eyewitness memory, but, perhaps more critically, warn of the dangers of repeatedly questioning witnesses specifically about the central or traumatic details of an event.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisha Chan
- a School of Psychology , The University of Sydney , Sydney , Australia
| | - Helen M Paterson
- a School of Psychology , The University of Sydney , Sydney , Australia
| | - Celine van Golde
- a School of Psychology , The University of Sydney , Sydney , Australia
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Oulton JM, Takarangi MKT, Strange D. Memory amplification for trauma: Investigating the role of analogue PTSD symptoms in the laboratory. J Anxiety Disord 2016; 42:60-70. [PMID: 27328014 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2016] [Revised: 05/31/2016] [Accepted: 06/02/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Victims of trauma often remember their experience as being more traumatic later, compared to immediately after, the event took place. This finding-the "memory amplification effect"-is associated with increased re-experiencing symptoms. However, the effect has been found almost exclusively in field-based studies. We examined whether the effect could be replicated in the laboratory. In two studies, we exposed participants to negative photographs and assessed their memory for the photographs and analogue PTSD symptoms on two occasions. In Study 1, analogue symptoms at follow-up were positively associated with remembering more negative photos over time. In Study 2, we focused on "memory amplifiers": people whose memory of the photos amplified over time. Consistent with field research, analogue re-experiencing symptoms were associated with memory amplification. Overall, our findings confirm that analogue PTSD symptoms are also associated with an amplified memory for a trauma analogue.
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Segovia DA, Strange D, Takarangi MKT. Trauma memories on trial: is cross-examination a safeguard against distorted analogue traumatic memories? Memory 2015; 25:95-106. [DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2015.1126608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Strange D, Takarangi MKT. Memory distortion for traumatic events: the role of mental imagery. Front Psychiatry 2015; 6:27. [PMID: 25755646 PMCID: PMC4337233 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2014] [Accepted: 02/09/2015] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Deryn Strange
- John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York , New York, NY , USA
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