Lifetime adversity interacts with peritraumatic data-driven processing to predict intrusive memories

Background and objectives: Although most trauma survivors experience some intrusive recollections of the traumatic event, only few subsequently develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A well-established proximal risk-factor predictive of post-trauma psychopathology is peritraumatic cognitive processing. Another, more distal risk-factor is pre-trauma lifetime adversity. The present experimental analogue study tested the hypothesis that pre-trauma lifetime adversity interacts with peritraumatic perceptual (i.e., data-driven) processing to predict intrusive memory development. Methods: Fifty-three young adult women (non-clinical sample) indicated how much data-driven and conceptual processing they had engaged in while watching aversive film-clips (i.e., analogue trauma). On the subsequent three days, they reported intrusions of those clips. Moderation analyses tested for an interaction effect between lifetime adversity and data-driven processing in predicting intrusion load (number of intrusions weighted for their overall distress). Results: Increased data-driven processing predicted intrusion load primarily in individuals reporting more than three lifetime adversities, explaining 55% of variance. No such relationship was found for conceptual processing. Limitations: Present analogue findings have yet to be replicated in a clinical population. Moreover, the conceptual processing scale was restricted by low internal consistency. Conclusion: Present findings support the idea that intrusions are the result of poorly elaborated and primarily perceptually-formed memory traces; however, this was primarily the case in vulnerable individuals reporting several lifetime adversities. Results replicate the importance of peritraumatic processing in intrusion development but additionally point to a moderating effect of lifetime adversity.

Automated summary

The study found that pre-trauma lifetime adversity interacts with peritraumatic data-driven processing to predict intrusive memory development, especially in individuals reporting more than three lifetime adversities. This suggests that individuals with higher levels of lifetime adversities may be more vulnerable to the effects of data-driven processing on intrusion load.