Background and objectives

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. It uses a dual-task approach, in which patients recall an aversive memory while making lateral eye movements. Research has shown that this ‘eye movements’ intervention reduces subjective memory vividness and emotionality. This study examined whether it also reduces memory accuracy on a visual discrimination task.

Methods

Participants (68 undergraduates) underwent an aversive conditioning phase, in which two pictures of male faces were followed by shock. Then they recalled one face with (experimental condition) and one without (control condition) making lateral eye movements. Finally, they completed a stimulus discrimination test with slightly different faces shortly after the intervention and one day later.

Results

Results showed that the eye movements intervention led to increased false-positive rates one day later.

Limitations

Our intervention targeted newly formed memory rather than consolidated memory.

Conclusions

The results inform theory about EMDR's mechanisms of change and suggest that the treatment may have side effects regarding memory accuracy.

中文翻译：

---

厌恶观念期间诱导横向眼球运动的副作用。

背景和目标

眼动脱敏和再处理 (EMDR) 是一种治疗创伤后应激障碍的方法。它使用双任务方法，患者在进行横向眼球运动时回忆起厌恶的记忆。研究表明，这种“眼球运动”干预会降低主观记忆的生动性和情绪化。这项研究检查了它是否也会降低视觉辨别任务的记忆准确性。

方法

参与者（68 名本科生）经历了一个厌恶的条件反射阶段，其中两张男性面孔的照片之后是震惊。然后他们回忆了一张有（实验条件）和一张没有（控制条件）做横向眼球运动的脸。最后，他们在干预后不久和一天后完成了具有略微不同面孔的刺激辨别测试。

结果

结果表明，眼动干预导致一天后假阳性率增加。

限制

我们的干预针对的是新形成的记忆，而不是巩固的记忆。

结论

结果为有关 EMDR 变化机制的理论提供了理论依据，并表明该治疗可能会对记忆准确性产生副作用。