Cognitive environments and dissociative tendencies: performance on the standard Stroop task for high versus low dissociators

Abstract

Dissociative experiences are characterized by a disruption in integration of consciousness, attention, and/or memory. Most individuals have some dissociative experiences (such as 'highway hypnosis'), but some individuals have remarkably frequent and intense dissociative experiences (as in the case of Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder)). We hypothesized that individual differences in dissociative experiences may have an attentional basis and/or effect on attentional mechanisms. We report on a study in which we selected high and low dissociators, as measured by the Dissociative Experiences Scale (Bernstein and Putnam, 1986) and we evaluated each group's performance on a basic Stroop interference task with incongruent colour terms and control stimuli. We found that the high dissociators showed greater Stroop interference than did the low dissociators. We discuss our current theoretical understanding of this relationship in which we speculate that a history of trauma is an important causal factor in both high levels of dissociative experiences and changes in basic attentional strategies and mechanisms. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.