Visual false memories in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

L. Jelinek*, B. Hottenrott, S. Randjbar, M.J.V. Peters, S. Moritz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate whether or not patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more prone to produce false memories. The present study investigated this question using a visual variant of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, additionally addressing underlying mechanisms of false memory production (e.g., depression, dissociation, emotional valence, arousal). The visual paradigm was administered to 48 traumatized individuals with (n = 20) and without PTSD (n = 28) and 28 non-traumatized controls. Groups did not differ with regard to memory performance and memory confidence. False memories were correlated with depression. We recommend that future studies employ trauma-related material to further explore memory aberrations in PTSD.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)374-383
JournalJournal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
Volume40
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2009

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