Effects of bilateral alternated stimulation on recognition memory of emotionally charged versus neutral information

Making repetitive saccadic eye movements has been found to increase subsequent episodic memory retrieval and also to increase subsequent top-down attentional control. We tested this idea by examining the effect of saccade execution on retrieval conditions that differed in emotional content. In this study, we assessed the effects of Bilateral Alternated Stimulation (BAS) typically used in EMDR (Eye Movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy and emotional priming on face recognition. 25 adults performed two similar face-recognition tasks. During study phase, participants either saw happy faces primed with neutral scenes or happy faces primed with traumatic scenes (IAPS database) that they later had to remember. Immediately after study and before recognition, participants carried out the same three short series of saccade execution or a fixation task: visual BAS (horizontal saccadic bilateral eye movements) during one session and a visual fixation control task during the other session. Our results confirm that engaging in BAS enhances recognition. To date, this is the first research studying the effect of BAS on recognition mecanisms. Moreover, it is the first to use an Old / New recognition paradigm and an estimation of response certainty of participants but also to study, at an electrophysiological level, the effect of BAS on evoked potentials associated with recognition. Our results confirm the beneficial effect of BAS on recognition performance and may have important implication on understanding the mechanisms at stake in EMDR treatment with PTSD patients.

Conference

English

Sophie Baier

Baier, S. (2018, June). Effects of bilateral alternated stimulation on recognition memory of emotionally charged versus neutral information. In EMDR in French speaking countries. Presentation at the 19th EMDR Europe Conference, Strasbourg, France