Citation

Palombo DJ, McKinnon MC, McIntosh AR, Anderson AK, Todd RM, Levine B. Clinical Psychological Science 2016; 4(2): 312-319.

Affiliation

Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto; Department of Medicine (Neurology), University of Toronto.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Association for Psychological Science, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/2167702615589308

PMID

27158567

PMCID

PMC4856049

Abstract

We investigated the neural correlates of remote traumatic reexperiencing in survivors of a life-threatening incident: the near crash of Air Transat (AT) Flight 236. Survivors' brain activity was monitored during video-cued recollection of the AT disaster, September 11(th), 2001 (9/11), and a comparatively non-emotional (neutral) event. Passengers showed a robust memory enhancement effect for the AT incident relative to the 9/11 and neutral events. This traumatic memory enhancement was associated with activation in the amygdala, medial temporal lobe, anterior and posterior midline, and visual cortex in passengers. This brain-behavior relationship also held in relation to 9/11, which had elevated significance for passengers given its temporal proximity to the AT disaster. This pattern was not observed in a comparison group of non-traumatized individuals who were also scanned. These findings suggest that remote, traumatic memory is mediated by amygdalar activity, which likely enhances vividness via influences on hippocampal and ventral visual systems.

Language: en