Distractibility and individual differences in the experience of involuntary memories

The present study explored the idea that the tendency to experience intrusive memories might be associated with relatively weak cognitive control in general as indexed by the general propensity to become distracted by irrelevant information. A sample of undergraduate students (N = 413) filled in self-report measures of involuntary memories, distractibility, depression and repressive coping. The results showed a significant relation between involuntary memories and distractibility, independent of both trait depression and repressive coping, indicating a general vulnerability factor. As cognitive control may be sensitive to circadian variation, time of day effects in the experience of intrusions were also explored. No significant relation emerged. A proposed relationship between deficient inhibitory mechanisms of working memory and vulnerability for developing and maintaining intrusive memories after experiencing a stressful event is also discussed.