创伤青少年自传体记忆具体性减少:情感调节还是执行控制受损

Reduced Specificity of Autobiographical Memory in Traumatized Adolescents:Exploring the Contributions of Impaired Executive Control and Affect Regulation

结合经典的自传体记忆测验(AMT)和反转-自传体记忆测验(AMT-R)探究创伤青少年自传体记忆具体性减少的原因。首先通过创伤事件终身经历问卷-学生版(LIET-S)和创伤后症状自评量表(CROPS)对630名青少年进行筛查,然后结合访谈,并采用儿童事件冲击量表-修订版(CRIES)测量创伤程度,最终选取有创伤后症状的青少年63名,分为高创伤组和低创伤组,另无创伤经历的青少年30名作为控制组。三组被试均参加AMT和AMT-R实验。结果发现,在AMT中,创伤青少年表现出自传体记忆具体性减少的特点,且创伤后症状越严重,具体性减少越明显;在AMT-R中,创伤青少年提取的具体记忆数量与控制组无显著差异。结果表明,创伤青少年自传体记忆具体性的减少是情感调节的结果。

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memories retrieved to word cues on the Autobiographical Memory Test （AMT） associated with increased posttraumatic stress in traumatized samples has been already confirmed, though the researches for the adolescents are still not very substantial. Theoretical debates concerning the dominant influences on this effect have focused on affect regulation, whereby specific personal information is avoided more by those experiencing greater distress, versus impaired executive control, whereby increased distress is associated with an inability to set aside inappropriately general responses on the AMT. The present study compared these 2 views using AMT and AMT-R （the reversed version of the AMT） together. All the participants were recruited from a nonclinical and normal middle school. Participants （divided into three groups： high-PTSD, n = 31, low-PTSD, n = 32, and nontraumatic controls, n = 30）were required to generate specific memories response to emotion-related cue words in the AMT, whereas had to generate general memories from the past in the AMT-R. An emphasis on the role of affect regulation would predict that distress would be associated with reduced specificity （as in the standard AMT）, whereas emphasis on the role of executive control would predict that this relationship should be reversed. The results indicated that, in contrast with the earlier studies, high-PTSD and low-PTSD groups behaved less specificity than nontraumatic controls and high-PTSD group also had generated less specific memories than low-PTSD group, regardless of cue valence in the AMT. But there were no significant differences of specific memories among the three groups in the AMT-R. The findings suggested that reduced autobiographical memory specificity has been demonstrated in traumatized adolescents in this study, and the results of AMT and AMT-R supported the affect regulation may play a greater role. Moreover, the clinical implications of the current research are discussed.