Investigating Behavioral and Psychophysiological Reactions to Conflict-Related and Individualized Stimuli as Potential Correlates of Repression
Investigating Behavioral and Psychophysiological Reactions to Conflict-Related and Individualized Stimuli as Potential Correlates of Repression
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DOI：
10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01511
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发表时间：
2017-09-14
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Axmacher, Nikolai
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kessler, Henrik;Schmidt, Anna Christine;Axmacher, Nikolai
背景：在心理动力学理论中，压抑被认为是一种中枢防御机制。它指的是“无法忍受的”精神内容（例如，那些与内部冲突有关的人）被排除在意识之外。压抑的过程可能与来自不同理论背景的情绪调节概念密切相关。这种关系特别相关，因为它将抑制与情感神经科学的当前研究以及情绪调节的实验研究联系起来。由于其复杂性和高度个人化的性质，镇压一直是出了名的难以调查。我们在健康受试者中进行了个体化实验，以建立研究临床人群中抑制的方法。为此，我们操作化的镇压使用个性化的实验条件，然后研究潜在的行为[记忆和反应时间（RT）]和心理生理学相关[皮肤电导反应（SCR）]。方法：29名健康女性受试者被要求自由联想到个性化的线索句。句子产生的个人心理动力学访谈的基础上操作化的心理动力学诊断（OPD），并包括三种不同类型：积极的，消极的非冲突，和消极的冲突相关的句子。受试者被要求说出他们脑海中出现的前三个联想。然后，剩下的时间，就是自由联想。记录每个关联试验期间的SCR和第一个给定关联的RT。前三个协会的记忆随后测试在一个意想不到的recall.Results：协会冲突相关的线索句与较长的RT和增加SCR。此外，意想不到的回忆任务显示这些协会的内存reduced.Conclusion：我们解释这些研究结果可能相关的抑制，符合历史的实验研究到抑制使用非个性化的线索。因此，我们建议，这种实验范式可以用来调查临床人群中的抑制。
Background: Repression is considered as a central defense mechanism in psychodynamic theory. It refers to the process by which "unbearable" mental contents (e.g., those related to internal conflicts) are kept out of consciousness. The process of repression is probably closely related to concepts of emotion regulation derived from a different theoretical background. This relationship is particularly relevant because it relates repression to current research in the affective neurosciences as well as to experimental studies on emotion regulation. Due to its complex and highly individual nature, repression has been notoriously difficult to investigate. We investigated repression with an individualized experiment in healthy subjects in order to establish methods to study repression in clinical populations. To this end we operationalized repression using individualized experimental conditions, and then studied potential behavioral [memory and reaction time (RT)] and psychophysiological correlates [skin conductance response (SCR)].Method: Twenty-nine healthy female subjects were asked to freely associate to individualized cue sentences. Sentences were generated from individual psychodynamic interviews based on operationlized psychodynamic diagnosis (OPD), and were comprised of three different types: positive, negative non-conflictual, and negative conflict-related sentences. Subjects were asked to name the first three associations coming into their mind. Afterward, the remaining time was used for free association. SCR during each association trial and RT of the first given association were recorded. The memory for the first three associations was subsequently tested in an unexpected recall.Results: Associations to conflict-related cue sentences were associated with longer RTs and increased SCRs. Moreover, the unexpected recall task showed memory for these associations to be reduced.Conclusion: We interpret these findings as possible correlates of repression, in line with a history of experimental research into repression using non-individualized cues. Consequently, we suggest that this experimental paradigm could serve to investigate repression in clinical populations.