Perspectives on Memory for Trauma and Cognitive Processes Associated with Dissociative Tendencies

Summary

Cognitive science approaches can inform research in traumatic stress studies by articulating separate scientific issues that may be relevant to understanding alterations in memory and awareness for trauma. This article will first address general issues about disrupted memory and “knowledge isolation” for trauma, as well as introduce specific aspects of “betrayal trauma theory” (Freyd 1994, 1996) that inform our understanding of memory impairment. According to betrayal trauma theory, a potent motivation for knowledge isolation (including amnesia, dissociation, and unawareness) in the face of trauma is to preserve apparently necessary human relationships in which betrayal occurs. Results from three recent laboratory investigations of cognitive processes associated with dissociative tendencies are summarized. These laboratory investigations suggest that the attentional capacities of high dissocators are impaired under conditions of selective attention, but not divided attention. Furthermore, in our laboratory tasks high dissocators have impaired memory for emotionally charged words associated with sexual assault and abuse (e.g., “incest”) but not neutral words, as compared with low dissociators. The findings suggest that high dissociators use divided attention and multi-tasking as a way to control the flow of information. Such a view is consistent with betrayal trauma theory. Though in its infancy, this research draws on cognitive science and observations of traumatic response and offers much promise.     

创伤性分离个体注意加工的警戒-回避模式研究

采用点探测研究范式,对高分离个体和低分离个体在两种呈现时间500ms和1500ms条件下,随机呈现创伤性图片和中性图片,进行点探测反应,考察创伤性分离个体的注意加工特点.结果表明,高分离个体在500ms呈现时间条件下对创伤性图片的反应时间显著快于低分离个体对创伤图片刺激的反应时间,而在1500ms呈现时间条件下则显著慢于低分离个体.表明创伤性高分离个体的注意加工符合警戒-回避的时程性模式:开始时对创伤性刺激是一种保护性的警戒反应;在随后刺激的呈现时间增加时,回避对创伤相关信息的进一步编码和精细加工,出现有意遗忘,体现在提取和回忆上的减弱,我们称之为回避加工.     

Prospective Memory and Divided Attention

In three experiments, we manipulated the processing demands of a concurrent task to test the hypothesis that an event-based prospective memory task satisfies a criterion of automaticity proposed by Hasher and Zacks (1979). As in the previous studies, a prospective memory task (pressing a key whenever a target word was presented) was embedded within a short-term memory task (remembering seven words). In addition, participants performed a concurrent memory task which varied in difficulty. Participants repeated either 0 to 6 randomly generated digits or a single word. In all three experiments, short-term memory performance was influenced by the concurrent memory load. Prospective performance, in contrast, was not affected by the memory load even though an attempt was made to increase the difficulty of the prospective task by manipulating the specificity of the target instructions (Experiment 2) and the number of target words (Experiments 2 and 3). The results are discussed within the framework of automatic processing.     

Attention,Memory, and Language after Pediatric Ischemic Stroke

A previous study evaluating receptive language after unilateral brain damage in childhood hypothesized lateralized attention and memory deficits without direct measurement. Our study directly measured attention, memory, and language in order to evaluate empirically the severity and laterality of sequelae. The performances of 11 individuals with a unilateral ischemic-lesion (7 right and 4 left hemisphere) were compared to controls matched on age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Results suggest subtle but persistent deficits in verbal memory, functional memory, and speed of processing after a lesion to either hemisphere. Lesions sustained before two years of age were associated with the lowest IQ scores. Our findings provide support for a configural representation of language that can to some extent compensate for inefficient or damaged components (Bates, 1994), and the middle-ground lateralization position (Thal et al., 1991) that asserts initial hemispheric specialization with the potential for reorganization.     

Object Perception,Attention, and Memory 2005 Conference Report

Currently one in five adults is still unable to read despite a rapidly developing world. Here we show that (il)literacy has important consequences for the cognitive ability of selecting relevant information from a visual display of nonlinguistic material. In two experiments we compared low to high literacy observers on both an easy and a more difficult visual search task involving different types of chicken. Low literates were consistently slower (as indicated by overall response times) in both experiments. More detailed analyses, including eye movement measures, suggest that the slowing is partly due to display wide (i.e., parallel) sensory processing but mainly due to postselection processes, as low literates needed more time between fixating the target and generating a manual response. Furthermore, high and low literacy groups differed in the way search performance was distributed across the visual field. High literates performed relatively better when the target was presented in central regions, especially on the right. At the same time, high literacy was also associated with a more general bias towards the top and the left, especially in the more difficult search. We conclude that learning to read results in an extension of the functional visual field from the fovea to parafoveal areas, combined with some asymmetry in scan pattern influenced by the reading direction, both of which also influence other (e.g., nonlinguistic) tasks such as visual search.     

创伤性分离个体注意加工的Stroop效应

研究采用Stroop色词命名任务。实验主要考察创伤性分离个体注意的加工模式。实验中,高分离个体在标准Stroop任务条件,明显受到Stroop效应的干扰,对创伤性词汇反应时间减慢。实验结果表明,创伤性分离个体的集中注意能力遭到破坏,实验符合创伤的回避加工理论,创伤性分离个体运用分离无意识忽略注意伤害性的刺激,如果无法忽略,则会有意识的回避加工。     

注意状态、认知方式与前瞻记忆的TAP效应

采用经典实验室研究范式,实验一探讨了前瞻记忆任务为知觉加工条件下,注意状态和前瞻记忆任务与进行中任务一致和不一致时对不同认知方式个体前瞻记忆成绩的影响,实验二探讨了前瞻记忆任务为语义加工条件下,注意状态和前瞻记忆任务与进行中任务一致和不一致时对不同认知方式个体前瞻记忆成绩的影响,结果表明,（1）在前瞻记忆任务加工类型是语义加工和知觉加工两种条件下,场依存与场独立个体均发现了TAP效应的存在,而且场依存个体表现出更明显的TAP效应;（2）当前瞻记忆任务与进行中任务的加工类型不一致时,场独立个体的前瞻记忆成绩明显高于场依存个体,而在两类任务加工类型一致情况下,场独立与场依存个体的前瞻记忆成绩不存在明显差异;（3）在前瞻记忆任务是知觉加工时,分心对前瞻记忆成绩有明显不利的影响;而在前瞻记忆任务是语义加工时,只有当前瞻记忆任务与进行中任务加工类型不一致时,分心对前瞻记忆才有明显不利的影响,而且在分心条件下的TAP效应更明显。     

The Cognitive Architecture of Perceived Animacy: Intention,Attention, and Memory

Human vision supports social perception by efficiently detecting agents and extracting rich information about their actions, goals, and intentions. Here, we explore the cognitive architecture of perceived animacy by constructing Bayesian models that integrate domain‐specific hypotheses of social agency with domain‐general cognitive constraints on sensory, memory, and attentional processing. Our model posits that perceived animacy combines a bottom–up, feature‐based, parallel search for goal‐directed movements with a top–down selection process for intent inference. The interaction of these architecturally distinct processes makes perceived animacy fast, flexible, and yet cognitively efficient. In the context of chasing, in which a predator (the “wolf”) pursues a prey (the “sheep”), our model addresses the computational challenge of identifying target agents among varying numbers of distractor objects, despite a quadratic increase in the number of possible interactions as more objects appear in a scene. By comparing modeling results with human psychophysics in several studies, we show that the effectiveness and efficiency of human perceived animacy can be explained by a Bayesian ideal observer model with realistic cognitive constraints. These results provide an understanding of perceived animacy at the algorithmic level—how it is achieved by cognitive mechanisms such as attention and working memory, and how it can be integrated with higher‐level reasoning about social agency.     

Working Memory Capacity as Executive Attention

Performance on measures of working memory (WM) capacity predicts performance on a wide range of real-world cognitive tasks. I review the idea that WM capacity (a) is separable from short-term memory, (b) is an important component of general fluid intelligence, and (c) represents a domain-free limitation in ability to control attention. Studies show that individual differences in WM capacity are reflected in performance on antisaccade, Stroop, and dichotic-listening tasks. WM capacity, or executive attention, is most important under conditions in which interference leads to retrieval of response tendencies that conflict with the current task.     

Attention and Memory in Children with Brain Tumors

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test was utilized to examine attention, learning, and memory abilities in 42 children with cerebellar (N?=?18) and third ventricle tumors (N?=?24). Children with cerebellar tumors exhibited significant auditory attentional impairments and displayed adequate encoding and retrieval across subsequent learning and memory trials. In contrast, children with third ventricle tumors exhibited average auditory attentional abilities, but they displayed mild encoding deficits across trials 2–5. Furthermore, the third ventricle group's compromised performance on the delayed recall trial and average performance on the delayed recognition trial is suggestive of underlying retrieval deficits.     

选择性注意与视觉空间工作记忆的交互作用

传统上只是从单方面讨论了选择性注意与视觉空间工作记忆之间的关系,即认为注意选择有限信息以进入工作记忆。近期的一些研究发现,视觉空间工作记忆的内容影响选择性注意的分配,注意选择工作记忆中保持的空间或物体表征,选择性注意对于正确保持空间或物体信息是必需的认知调节。文章最后指出,关于选择性注意与视觉空间工作记忆交互作用的研究为将来进一步揭示基于空间与基于物体的注意选择之间的交互作用关系提供了一个很好的途径。     

The Effects of Auditory Structural Complexity on Attitudes,Attention, Arousal,and Memory

Twenty-five participants listened to 8 radio messages—half of which were greater in auditory structural complexity. Physiological measures were taken during message presentation, and self-report measures after each. Results show that increased auditory structural complexity led to higher self-reported and physiological arousal, better attitudes toward the messages overall and toward their nonclaim components. There were no differences in attitudes toward the claims made in the messages at each level of structural complexity. Structurally complex messages were also freely recalled more often than simple messages. The prediction that messages high in auditory structural complexity would result in greater self-reported attention levels received only moderate support. Furthermore, high levels of auditory structural complexity resulted in unexpectedly higher cardiac activity compared to messages low in structural complexity.     

Powers,Probabilities, and Tendencies

Philosophia - In this article, I aim at showing how powers may ground different types of probability in the universe. In Section 1 I single out several dimensions along which the probability of...     

Auditory Processing Measures: Correlation with Neuropsychological Measures of Attention,Memory, and Behavior

It has been suggested that measures of auditory processing (AP) are sensitive measures of attention resulting in the high comorbidity of auditory processing disorder (APD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Others have found that selected AP measures share significant variance with memory tasks. The current study investigated the relation between AP measures and various neuropsychological measures presumed to measure attention and memory in 36 children with a mean age of 7.78 years (SD = 1.61) referred to an outpatient facility. Results indicate that AP measures significantly correlated with each other as well as with some measures of attention, memory, and behavior ratings. Results suggest that although AP measures include elements of both attention and memory, these measures also appear to assess processes not tapped by other measures of attention and memory. The correlation of AP measures with parent-and teacher-rated withdrawal, parent-rated somatization, conduct, and depression, as well as teacher-rated attention, anxiety, learning problems, social skills, and leadership suggest that auditory processing problems may manifest in myriad behaviors across settings. Implications for practice and future research are presented.