Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T18:58:03.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Clinical applications of counterfactual thinking during memory reactivation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Felipe De Brigard
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708. [email protected] Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708. [email protected] Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708.
Eleanor Hanna
Affiliation:
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708. [email protected] Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708.

Abstract

The Integrative Memory Model offers a strong foundation upon which to build successful strategies for clinical intervention. The next challenge is to figure out which cognitive strategies are more likely to bring about successful and beneficial modifications of reactivated memories during therapy. In this commentary we suggest that exercising emotional regulation during episodic counterfactual thinking is likely to be a successful therapeutic strategy to bring about beneficial memory modifications.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

De Brigard, F., Addis, D., Ford, J. H., Schacter, D. L. & Giovanello, K. S. (2013a) Remembering what could have happened: Neural correlates of episodic counterfactual thinking. Neuropsychologia 51(12):2401–14.Google Scholar
De Brigard, F. & Giovanello, K. (2012) Influence of outcome valence in the subjective experience of episodic past, future, and counterfactual thinking. Consciousness and Cognition 21:1085–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Brigard, F., Szpunar, K. K. & Schacter, D. L. (2013b) Coming to grips with the past: Effect of repeated simulation on the perceived plausibility of episodic counterfactual thoughts. Psychological Science 24(7):1329–34.Google Scholar
Epstude, K. & Roese, N. J. (2008) The functional theory of counterfactual thinking personal. Social Psychological Review 12:168–92.Google Scholar
Harrington, J. A. & Blankenship, V. (2002) Ruminative thoughts and their relation to depression and anxiety. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 32:465–85.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D. & Miller, D. R. (1986) Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review 93(2):136–53.Google Scholar
Markman, K. D. & McMullen, M. N. (2003) A reflection and evaluation model of comparative thinking. Personality and Social Psychology Review 7:244–67.Google Scholar
Nadel, L., Hupbach, A., Gomez, R. & Newman-Smith, K. (2012) Memory formation, consolidation and transformation. Neuroscience Behavioral Review 36(7):1640–45.Google Scholar
Nader, K. & Einarsson, E. O. (2010) Memory reconsolidation: An update. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1191:2741.Google Scholar
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000) The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 109:504–11.Google Scholar
Roese, N. (1997) Counterfactual thinking. Psychological Bulletin 121:133–48.Google Scholar
Roese, N. J. (1994) The functional basis of counterfactual thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66:805–18.Google Scholar
Roese, N. J., Epstude, K., Fessel, F. Morrison, M., Smallman, R. & Summerville, A. (2009) Repetitive regret, depression, and anxiety: Findings from a nationally representative survey. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 28:671–88.Google Scholar
Roese, N. J. & Olson, J. M. (1995) What might have been: The social psychology of counterfactual thinking. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schiller, D. & Phelps, E. A. (2011) Does reconsolidation occur in humans? Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 5:24.Google Scholar
Spasojevic, J. & Alloy, L. B. (2001) Rumination as a common mechanism relating depressing risk factors to depression. Emotion 1:2537.Google Scholar
Thomsen, D. K. (2006) The association between rumination and negative affect: A review. Cognition and Emotion 20:1216–35.Google Scholar