The Integration of Emotions in Memories: Cognitive-Emotional Distinctiveness and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Page: 4
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Boals and Rubin
I (SD= 12.0) years, average years of education = 14.6 (SD= 3.1)]. There were no differences
on these demographic variables (both t's > .10).
Z Materials
I
CED-CED is measured using a modified multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique
>(Boals & Klein, 2005; Boals et al., 2008). A single set of stimuli are chosen to represent a
>concept and participants make dissimilarity ratings between all possible pairs of these
stimuli. The result is a model that depicts the organizational structure of the stimuli,
o including which stimuli cluster together.
The modified technique involves participants nominating an event (e.g. "my day at the
beach"), then nominating the stimuli that comprise that event (e.g. "swimming in the water"
and "building a sandcastle"), including associated emotions (e.g. "happy"). CED is
-r measured by calculating the mean rating of the event-emotion pairs (e.g. "swimming in the
water" - "happy"). Higher dissimilarity ratings of event-emotion pairs reflect weaker links
between event nodes and associated emotion modes, hence higher CED levels; lower
dissimilarity scores reflect greater integration between the event and the associated
emotions, hence lower CED levels. Mean dissimilarity ratings of event-event (e.g.
"swimming in the ocean - "building a sandcastle") pairs are calculated for comparison
purposes. Comparisons of event-event pair ratings are important to demonstrate that any
Z group differences are due to links between event and emotion nodes, and not due to
respondent rating tendencies. The modified MDS procedure results in 28 event-event pairs,
32 event-emotion pairs, and six emotion-emotion pairs to be rated for each memory. This
>measurement technique produces similar individual differences measures produced by
c traditional MDS. More specifically, the mean ratings for event-emotion pairs are highly
correlated with normalized dimension weights produced by INDSCAL, but unlike
o traditional MDS, can be applied to idiosyncratic events (see Boals et al., 2008). This latter
feature is critical if one wants to apply MDS to individual traumatic memories.
In reference to a selected memory, participants were instructed to "...think about items
(such as persons, places, thoughts, and events) that you believe are central to your memory
-0 for this event. Then, in the spaces provided below, please list eight of these items and four
emotions that you believe are most central to your memory for this event". All possible non-
repeating pairs of the 12 stimuli (n = 66) were presented on a computer screen. Participants
rated the pairs on a scale from 0 (exactly same) to 50 (completely different).
Procedure
As part of a larger study, participants nominated their trauma event, their next two most
Z negative events from their lives, and their three most positive events from their lives. Hence
Participants nominated their three most negative and three most positive events. Of these six
nominated events, participants were then asked to select "their most negative event" and
"their most positive event". They then completed the CED measurement for these latter two
events.
0
Results
SThe age of the participants was entered as a covariate and did not result in any significant
c effects; hence this variable was excluded from all analyses. The average time since trauma
O in the PTSD group was m = 15 years, 8 months (SD= 14 years) and in the control group
-. was 15 years, 9 months (SD= 14 years).Appl Cogn Psychol Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 February 20.
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Boals, Adriel & Rubin, David C. The Integration of Emotions in Memories: Cognitive-Emotional Distinctiveness and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, article, October 21, 2010; [Hoboken, New Jersey]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279709/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT College of Arts and Sciences.