Computer Game Play Reduces Intrusive Memories of Experimental Trauma via Reconsolidation-Update Mechanisms⁠↗

We predicted that engaging in a visuospatial task during memory reconsolidation would compete for working memory resources with visual imagery and interfere with the reconsolidation of intrusive memories. There are dual-task experiments indicating that when similar cognitive tasks compete for shared resources, they interfere with each other and thereby impede memory processing; for example, a visuospatial pattern-tapping task interfered with holding a visual mental image in mind (rendering it less vivid and emotional),