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Repression and recovery of memory: An examination of repressive effects in a controlled setting
Abstract
The phenomenon of repression is often cited and presumed to exist in the clinical formulation of certain psychological disorders. However, it has yet to be demonstrated experimentally. The present study aimed to test whether a repressive effect, as operationalized by the blockage and subsequent retrieval of memory for a specific event, can be established in a controlled setting. One-hundred-sixty undergraduate student volunteers viewed two film segments, consisting of the target stimulus and the distractor stimulus. Participants then were assigned to one of eight conditions, which varied in instruction type (disremember, fabricate, no instruction) and in practice (target practice, nontarget practice, no practice). In two follow-up sessions three and seven days later, respectively, participants were asked to recall the target stimulus in all its detail. Analyses revealed that target practice and fabricate instruction were predictive of performance on a delayed recall task at Session 2. That is, target practice lead to significantly improved recall of the target stimulus, whereas instruction to fabricate resulted in blocked (impaired) recall of the target stimulus. At Session 3, the Cognitive Interview served to lift the blocked memory, allowing participants who had received the fabricate instruction to recollect the target stimulus at the same rate as those who did not. Overall, the findings provide experimental support for the phenomenon of repression.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy|Cognitive therapy
Recommended Citation
Le, Peter Toan, "Repression and recovery of memory: An examination of repressive effects in a controlled setting" (1999). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9942134.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9942134