
Tetris blocks traumatic flashbacks even after the memory is fixed - cpncrunch
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27846-tetris-blocks-traumatic-flashbacks-even-after-the-memory-is-fixed.html#.VZxsVJN3lsM
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eridius
> _Half the participants then spent 12 minutes playing Tetris while the others
> just sat quietly for 12 minutes._

From reading just this article alone, it sounds just as likely that looking at
photos of your trauma a day later and then sitting there quietly thinking
about it for 12 minutes causes twice as many traumatic flashbacks as looking
at the photos and then being distracted by something else so you don't think
about it.

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obastani
Their control group seems a bit questionable to me -- maybe sitting there
quietly for 12 minutes increases the risk of flashbacks? It seems possible
that you'd end up thinking about the traumatic event.

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degenerate
Agree. This has nothing to do with tetris, and ironically, the 'researchers'
ended up being the ones distracted by the colored blocks if they didn't
realize it had nothing to do with the game and everything to do with the
control _sitting there doing nothing_.

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gohrt
> "Think of it like hand washing. Hand washing is not a fancy intervention,
> but it can reduce all sorts of illness. This is similar"

How did they miss the obvious analogy?

hand : handwashing :: brain : ___________

~~~
shoo
or perhaps:

> The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?-What, will these hands ne'er
> be clean?

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sossles
Interesting. I recently had a guy email me to say that my game Twenty (which I
find induces a similar kind of focussed mental state as Tetris) was helping
him with his military flashbacks.

On the flip-side I would imagine this is similar to the kind of 'hypnosis'
induced by poker machines and the like.

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alanfalcon
Seems this would also "help" keep you from forming desirable memories. Does
Candy Crush have the same effect? Is King creating a zombie army of people who
have blocked out all significant memories from their lives?

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craigds
If I read correctly they're not recommending Tetris be played after _every_
memory-forming event, just after distressing events.

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jaawn
Similarly, if you _only_ play Tetris after distressing events, you may become
conditioned to be distressed by Tetris.

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cpncrunch
I thought this study was interesting, although it's a little dubious. There's
a big difference between "watching video footage of distressing events" and
actually experiencing it.

