Author: Taylor Swain
Swain, Taylor, 2022 An investigation into the relationship between prospective memory and PTSD symptom severity in the general population, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
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Historically, theories of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) conceptualise PTSD as a disorder of memory for the past. Little research has examined the relationship between PTSD and memory for future intentions, or prospective memory—such as taking medication with breakfast. Over four studies, this thesis explored the relationship between prospective memory and PTSD, in general population samples. Key findings revealed that people who had more severe PTSD symptoms also self-reported on a questionnaire that their everyday prospective memory errors were more frequent, and recorded more everyday errors in a diary. But they did not perform worse on prospective memory tasks in the lab. Findings also suggested that metacognitive beliefs—that is, beliefs about one’s cognitive abilities—play a key role in the relationship between PTSD symptoms and self-report prospective memory but not diary-recorded prospective memory. Thus, PTSD models likely need to incorporate memory for the future, and metacognitive components.
Keywords: memory, prospective memory, PTSD, PTSD symptom severity, metacognition
Subject: Psychology thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2022
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Melanie Takarangi