Dissociation in Undergraduate Students: Disruptions in Executive Functioning
Abstract
The concept of dissociation refers to disruptions in attentional control. Attentional control is an executive function. Few studies have addressed the link between dissociation and executive functioning. Our study investigated this relationship in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 185) who completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Random Number Generation Task. We found that minor disruptions in executive functioning were related to a subclass of dissociative experiences, notably dissociative amnesia and the Dissociative Experiences Scale Taxon. However, the two other subscales of the Dissociative Experiences Scale, measuring depersonalization and absorption, were unrelated to executive functioning. Our findings suggest that a failure to inhibit previous responses might contribute to the pathological memory manifestations of dissociation.
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In healthy individuals, higher levels of dissociation are associated with worse performance on tasks assessing executive functioning.
“individuals higher in dissociation performed worse on tasks assessing executive functioning (Amrhein et al., 2008;Giesbrecht et al., 2004)”
From A review of the relation between dissociation, memory, executive functioning and social cognition in military members and civilians with neuropsychiatric conditions (2016) · cites this paper as Giesbrecht et al., 2004
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- Authors
- Giesbrecht, T., Merckelbach, H., Geraerts, E., & Smeets, E.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Giesbrecht, Timo
- Merckelbach, Harald
- Smeets, Ellen
- Venue
- Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease
- Published
- 2004-08
- Volume
- 192
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 567-569
- ISSN
- 0022-3018 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2072559549
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 3.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- dissociation, executive function, attentional control, Dissociative Experiences Scale, dissociative amnesia, depersonalization, absorption, response inhibition, memory
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Amnesia, Attention, Cognition Disorders, Depersonalization, Dissociative Disorders, Female, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Male, Personality Inventory, Problem Solving, Psychomotor Performance, Students
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