Explicit Memory in Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

描述（由申请人提供）：虽然相当多的研究致力于了解成人创伤暴露的生物学和神经心理学后遗症，但很少有研究对创伤儿童的这些过程进行检查。本研究的主要目的是检验儿童暴露于父母间攻击（IPA）、创伤后心理学和生理唤醒以及外显记忆之间的关系。本研究假设，在中性的学习情境中，接触IPA的儿童对中性信息的外显记忆会比未接触IPA的儿童差。在暴露组中，假设创伤后的记忆学和生理唤醒将部分介导IPA暴露和记忆表现之间的关系。本研究还将探讨儿童在IPA启动的学习环境中的外显记忆。预计在IPA启动条件下，接触IPA的儿童将比对照儿童表现出更大的生理反应性，并且在接触组中，生理反应性将介导IPA接触与记忆表现之间的关系。两组儿童（7-11岁）及其母亲将参与：1）暴露于IPA的儿童和2）对照儿童，在重要的人口统计学变量上匹配。如果假设得到支持，暴露于IPA的儿童可能面临学习和记忆问题的重大风险。因此，可以设计早期识别和干预方案，以防止这些问题的发展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While considerable research has been devoted to understanding the biological and neuropsychological sequelae of trauma exposure in adults, little research has been conducted to examine these processes in traumatized children. The primary aim of the proposed study is to test the relation between children's exposure to interparental aggression (IPA), posttraumatic symptomatology and physiological arousal, and explicit memory. It is hypothesized that children exposed to IPA will show poorer explicit memory than non-exposed children for neutral information presented in a neutral learning context. Within the exposed group, it is hypothesized that posttraumatic symptomatology and physiological arousal will partially mediate the relation between IPA exposure and memory performance. The proposed study will also examine children's explicit memory in an IPA-primed learning context. It is expected that children exposed to IPA will show greater physiological reactivity than control children in an IPA-primed condition and that, within the exposed group, physiological reactivity will mediate the relation between IPA exposure and memory performance. Two groups of children (aged 7-11}, and their mothers will participate: 1) children exposed to IPA and 2) control children, matched on important demographic variables. If hypotheses are supported, children exposed to IPA could be at significant risk for problems with learning and memory. As such, early identification and intervention programs could be designed to prevent the development of such problems.