Taxing working memory to modulate mental imagery of the 9/11 terrorist attacks following media exposure during childhood : a pilot study in young adult UK residents

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: 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).

METHODS: 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.

RESULTS: 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.

LIMITATIONS: 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.

CONCLUSIONS: 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.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:34

Enthalten in:

Anxiety, stress, and coping - 34(2021), 4 vom: 08. Juli, Seite 423-436

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Rackham, Libby A [VerfasserIn]
Lau-Zhu, Alex [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

EMDR
Intrusive memories
Journal Article
Media trauma
Mental imagery
PTSD
Randomized Controlled Trial
Secondary trauma

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 10.12.2021

Date Revised 31.05.2022

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1080/10615806.2020.1870107

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM319765962