Flashbacks, intrusions, mind-wandering – Instances of an involuntary memory spectrum: A commentary on Takarangi, Strange, and Lindsay (2014)

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Highlights

  • We comment on an article by Takarangi, Strange, and Lindsay.

  • Mind-wandering about trauma can be distinguished from intrusions and flashbacks.

  • These phenomena can be seen as instances of an involuntary memory spectrum.

  • Adopting stricter definitions would help to advance trauma-memory research.

Abstract

In their paper, Takarangi, Strange, and Lindsay (2014) showed in two experiments that participants who had witnessed a shocking film frequently “mind-wandered without awareness” about the content of the film. More importantly, they equated this effect with the occurrence of traumatic intrusions. In this commentary, we argue that the authors adhered to conceptually ambiguous terms, and thereby unintentionally contribute to an already existing conceptual blur in the trauma-memory field. We postulate that clear definitions are urgently needed for phenomena such as intrusions, flashbacks, and mind-wandering, when using them in the context of trauma memory. Furthermore, our proposal is that these phenomena can fall under a spectrum of different involuntary memory instances. We propose that by adopting stricter definitions and viewing them as separate, but interrelated phenomena, different lines of trauma-memory research can be reconciled, which would considerably advance the field.

Introduction

Takarangi, Strange, and Lindsay (2014) examined whether individuals who had just witnessed a shocking film would think about this film during an unrelated reading task without being aware of it. For this purpose, participants in two separate experiments were instructed to press a button each time they caught themselves thinking about the trauma film while performing the reading task. The authors referred to these self-reports as “mind-wandering with awareness”. In each study, a subset of participants were additionally asked, at unpredictable times and independently of the self-caught mind wandering, whether they were currently thinking about the trauma film. When participants affirmed these probes, the researchers counted this as “mind-wandering without awareness”. In the two experiments, the authors found that participants “mind-wandered without awareness” on average on 29% and 40% of the probes.

Mind-wandering without awareness also had cognitive side effects, in that it correlated with deteriorated performance on the reading task. This correlation did not emerge for self-caught mind wandering. The authors subsequently discussed that their findings bring together two lines of research; one using paradigms that probe meta-awareness during mind-wandering (Schooler, 2002; for review, see Smallwood & Schooler, 2015), and another one using the trauma-film paradigm (Holmes & Bourne, 2008) to study involuntary negative memories that serve as a laboratory analogue for trauma memories in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Thereby, their article suggests new and interesting routes of research on uncharted territory.

In this commentary, we argue that while Takarangi et al. (2014) describe a promising new line of research, the authors have used certain terminology in a rather liberal, and perhaps even conceptually ambiguous, way. Essentially, in our opinion, mind-wandering without awareness is distinct from other forms of involuntary memory. More importantly, we believe that not distinguishing between mind-wandering and other types of involuntary memory has the potential to unlock a conceptual fuzziness in the trauma-memory literature. Below, we elaborate on our main objection to the way the authors presented their findings. Then, we sketch in what way phenomena such as mind-wandering, intrusions, and flashbacks should be viewed in order to avoid confusion and unnecessary controversy. Finally, we briefly outline implications for future research and indicate how clearer definitions may advance the field.

Section snippets

The giant leap from mind wandering to trauma intrusions

Takarangi et al. (2014) claimed to investigate whether “people would sometimes fail to recognise the occurrence of traumatic intrusions” (p. 298). Based on the observation that participants were sometimes caught mind-wandering without reporting it, the authors came to the conclusion that “self-report may underestimate intrusions” (title). We argue that equating mind wandering with traumatic intrusions is a conceptually big leap, which carries with it the risk of exacerbating an already existing

The spectrum of involuntary trauma memories

Despite the above-mentioned critique that mind-wandering should not be fully equated with intrusions and traumatic flashbacks, we agree with Takarangi et al. (2014) that these phenomena are spontaneous thought processes that may be closely related to each other. Studying similarities and differences between these phenomena can yield important insights in trauma memory, but in our opinion, this requires the a priori setting of clear definitions. Indeed, Kvavilashvili (2014) recently argued along

Implications and conclusion

In the present commentary, we propose that dissociative flashbacks, intrusive memories, involuntary autobiographical memories, and now also mind-wandering, can all be regarded as instances on a spectrum of involuntary trauma memory phenomena. However, a clear definition is necessary for each of these concepts in order to avoid confusion and unnecessary controversy. We here present them on a spectrum that is based on the prior work of Kvavilashvili (2014), extended with the suggestion by

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