Comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories: a single-center randomized, controlled trial in healthy participants
IntroductionIntrusive memories occur frequently after potentially traumatic events and form a core symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) if they persist. The translational approach of visuospatial interventions tries to target those intrusive memories in order to reduce their frequency pre...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1454086/full |
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| author | Jan-Martin Matura Henrik Kessler Henrik Kessler Emily A. Holmes Nina Timmesfeld Marianne C. Tokic Nikolai Axmacher Simon E. Blackwell Anna-Christine Schmidt Johanna M. Schweer Charlotte Hippert Lukas Apel Jan Dieris-Hirche Stephan Herpertz Aram Kehyayan |
| author_facet | Jan-Martin Matura Henrik Kessler Henrik Kessler Emily A. Holmes Nina Timmesfeld Marianne C. Tokic Nikolai Axmacher Simon E. Blackwell Anna-Christine Schmidt Johanna M. Schweer Charlotte Hippert Lukas Apel Jan Dieris-Hirche Stephan Herpertz Aram Kehyayan |
| author_sort | Jan-Martin Matura |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionIntrusive memories occur frequently after potentially traumatic events and form a core symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) if they persist. The translational approach of visuospatial interventions tries to target those intrusive memories in order to reduce their frequency predominantly using an intervention including as one component the computer game Tetris. Despite promising results, the application of Tetris has critical drawbacks, e.g., potential commercial or copyright issues. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether it is this specific game or, as predicted by theory, a visuospatial task per se that leads to the effect. This study hence aims to compare the effect of Tetris with an alternative, bespoke visuospatial task: Mobilum developed for the current purpose.MethodsN = 120 healthy participants watched a trauma film and recorded their intrusive memories in a diary for 6 days. Three days after watching the film, they were randomized to 3 groups and after memory reactivation cue received either Tetris or Mobilum or Control (no task). Prior to intervention 8 participants reported zero intrusive memories to the film and were excluded from further analyses, therefore 112 participants were included in the analysis.ResultsA mixed Poisson regression model revealed that the Mobilum group had significantly less frequent intrusive memories after the intervention compared to the control condition (approximately 43%, p = 0.0013). There was no significant difference for the Tetris group compared to Control (17% less frequent, p = 0.3798).DiscussionOur results suggest that visuospatial tasks other than Tetris—in this case, Mobilum—can also lead to a reduction in intrusive memories when administered 3 days after a trauma film. This strengthens the assumption that it is not specifically the game Tetris, but rather the visuospatial nature of the task, that is responsible for the reduction. Aspects of further investigating the potential of Mobilum as well as clinical implications are discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-41a94e1f865548f588504b9eb16e9143 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-41a94e1f865548f588504b9eb16e91432025-01-10T06:10:51ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-01-011510.3389/fpsyg.2024.14540861454086Comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories: a single-center randomized, controlled trial in healthy participantsJan-Martin Matura0Henrik Kessler1Henrik Kessler2Emily A. Holmes3Nina Timmesfeld4Marianne C. Tokic5Nikolai Axmacher6Simon E. Blackwell7Anna-Christine Schmidt8Johanna M. Schweer9Charlotte Hippert10Lukas Apel11Jan Dieris-Hirche12Stephan Herpertz13Aram Kehyayan14Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Fulda Hospital, University Medicine Marburg Campus Fulda, Fulda, GermanyDepartment of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SwedenDepartment of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Neuropsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyIntroductionIntrusive memories occur frequently after potentially traumatic events and form a core symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) if they persist. The translational approach of visuospatial interventions tries to target those intrusive memories in order to reduce their frequency predominantly using an intervention including as one component the computer game Tetris. Despite promising results, the application of Tetris has critical drawbacks, e.g., potential commercial or copyright issues. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether it is this specific game or, as predicted by theory, a visuospatial task per se that leads to the effect. This study hence aims to compare the effect of Tetris with an alternative, bespoke visuospatial task: Mobilum developed for the current purpose.MethodsN = 120 healthy participants watched a trauma film and recorded their intrusive memories in a diary for 6 days. Three days after watching the film, they were randomized to 3 groups and after memory reactivation cue received either Tetris or Mobilum or Control (no task). Prior to intervention 8 participants reported zero intrusive memories to the film and were excluded from further analyses, therefore 112 participants were included in the analysis.ResultsA mixed Poisson regression model revealed that the Mobilum group had significantly less frequent intrusive memories after the intervention compared to the control condition (approximately 43%, p = 0.0013). There was no significant difference for the Tetris group compared to Control (17% less frequent, p = 0.3798).DiscussionOur results suggest that visuospatial tasks other than Tetris—in this case, Mobilum—can also lead to a reduction in intrusive memories when administered 3 days after a trauma film. This strengthens the assumption that it is not specifically the game Tetris, but rather the visuospatial nature of the task, that is responsible for the reduction. Aspects of further investigating the potential of Mobilum as well as clinical implications are discussed.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1454086/fullvisuospatial taskintrusive memoriesposttraumatic stress disorderPTSDMobilumTetris |
| spellingShingle | Jan-Martin Matura Henrik Kessler Henrik Kessler Emily A. Holmes Nina Timmesfeld Marianne C. Tokic Nikolai Axmacher Simon E. Blackwell Anna-Christine Schmidt Johanna M. Schweer Charlotte Hippert Lukas Apel Jan Dieris-Hirche Stephan Herpertz Aram Kehyayan Comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories: a single-center randomized, controlled trial in healthy participants Frontiers in Psychology visuospatial task intrusive memories posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD Mobilum Tetris |
| title | Comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories: a single-center randomized, controlled trial in healthy participants |
| title_full | Comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories: a single-center randomized, controlled trial in healthy participants |
| title_fullStr | Comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories: a single-center randomized, controlled trial in healthy participants |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories: a single-center randomized, controlled trial in healthy participants |
| title_short | Comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories: a single-center randomized, controlled trial in healthy participants |
| title_sort | comparing a new visuospatial intervention administered 3 days after a trauma film to reduce the occurrence of intrusive visual memories a single center randomized controlled trial in healthy participants |
| topic | visuospatial task intrusive memories posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD Mobilum Tetris |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1454086/full |
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