A Cognitive, Neural And Physiological Approach To Understanding Encoding Processes in Traumatic Memory

163 pagesMaladaptive responses to trauma are a major societal concern, and the individual differences affecting susceptibility to traumatic memory formation are still being discovered. Yet literature examining maladaptive memory formation is over-reliant on emotional factors. The present work argues for a holistic approach to trauma research, incorporating cognitive, autonomic and neural evidence in understanding the non-emotional contributors to traumatic memory formation. First, a review of peritraumatic appraisals and cognitive encoding literature is presented, highlighting the overlap in disparate sets of literature. A particular cognitive encoding strategy, survival encoding, is highlighted as a contender for a non-emotional contributor to traumatic memory formation. Three studies were conducted examining this encoding effect on behavioural, physiological, and neural bases. Survival encoding was found to be unique on a neural level, represented by recruitment of threat monitoring neurocircuitry but not known emotion regions, and is associated with constrained autonomic functioning. Thus, this dissertation offers a promising potential contributor to traumatic memory formation and builds a foundation for a comprehensive whole-body approach to trauma research