Reducing vividness and emotional intensity of recurrent “flashforwards” by taxing working memory: An analogue study

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Abstract

Several studies have found that making eye movements while retrieving visual images about past negative events reduces their vividness and emotional intensity. A working memory account states that eye movements tax working memory and interfere with visual imagery, thus degrading images. This study examined whether eye movements also affect recurrent, intrusive visual images about potential future catastrophes (“flashforwards”) in a sample of female undergraduates who had indicated on a screening-scale that they suffer from such intrusions. They were asked to recall two intrusive images with or without making eye movements. Before and after each condition, participants retrieved the image, and rated its vividness and emotionality. Results showed that vividness of intrusive images was lower after recall with eye movement, relative to recall only, and there was a similar trend for emotionality. Potential implications are discussed.

Research highlights

► Eye movements during recall of a visual image about a past negative event reduce its vividness and emotional intensity ratings. ► A working memory account posits that eye movements and visual imagery both tax working memory, which will impede mental imagery, such that images become degraded. ► This study examined whether eye movements also affect recurrent, intrusive visual images about potential future catastrophes (“flashforwards”) in an analogue sample. ► Recall with eye movements, relative to recall only, indeed, reduced vividness ratings.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

A total of 625 undergraduates from Utrecht University and Hogeschool Utrecht (higher vocational school) was administered a 3-item screening-scale, based on items 2 and 3 of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Goodman et al., 1989), mainly in classrooms or lecture halls. They were given a brief oral explanation about the background and purpose of the scale, and a written explanation about unwanted, intrusive images about future catastrophe, which included examples, like images about

Results

The mean SCL-90 score was 155.19 (SD = 43.78), which was higher than a sample from the general population (M = 118.28, SD = 32.38), but lower compared to a sample of psychiatric patients (M = 203.55, SD = 61.60; Arrindell & Ettema, 2003). The mean EPQ-N score was 11.27 (SD = 5.38), which was comparable to a large sample of outpatients who mainly suffered from an anxiety disorder (M = 13.2 SD = 5.4; Sanderman et al., 1995). One-third of participants indicated they had been treated by a psychologist. This

Discussion

The main finding was that vividness of intrusive images about potential catastrophes was lower after recall with eye movements, compared to recall only, and there was a similar trend for emotional intensity. This fits with prior studies that focused on emotional images for past events (e.g., Andrade et al., 1997, Engelhard et al., 2010b, Gunter and Bodner, 2008, Van den Hout et al., 2001, Van den Hout et al., 2011). The current study partially replicates a study that found that eye movements

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Arne Leer for assistance with the data collection. This study was supported by a Vidi grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded to Iris Engelhard.

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