Overt and covert processing of self-relevance information in dissociative identity disorder: controlled fMRI study

TL;DR

This study used fMRI to compare how people with dissociative identity disorder process self-relevant information consciously and subconsciously, finding differences in brain activity and reaction times.

Contribution

The study introduces individualized trauma-related stimuli to investigate covert knowledge processing in dissociative identity disorder.

Findings

Individuals with DID showed slower reaction times compared to simulators and controls.

DID participants exhibited increased frontoparietal brain activation during overt processing.

The findings support the authenticity of trauma-related cognitive avoidance in DID.

Abstract

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) manifests with distinct trauma-avoidant and trauma-related identity states. Overtly conscious trauma-related knowledge processing is identity state-dependent. Previous research on covertly subconscious knowledge processing in DID lacks subject-specific trauma-related stimuli.

Our controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study explored neural and behavioural differences of overt and covert knowledge processing of individualised self-relevant words in DID.

Behavioural data were gathered while 56 participants underwent task-based fMRI: 14 with DID, 14 DID simulators and a paired control group of 14 healthy controls and 14 participants with post-traumatic stress disorder. Individuals with DID and simulators participated in a trauma-avoidant and a trauma-related identity state. Reaction times and brain activation following overtly and covertly presented individualised words were statistically analysed.

Behavioural analyses showed a main effect of consciousness (P < 0.001). Post hoc between-group pairwise comparisons revealed slower reaction times for individuals with DID compared with simulating (P < 0.05) and paired controls (P < 0.05). Neural data analyses showed increased brain activation in frontal and parietal regions within the diagnosed DID group, especially during overt processing. Between-group comparisons mostly showed less pronounced activation in frontal, occipital and temporal areas.

The present study showed increased cognitive control during overt self-relevant knowledge processing in the trauma-avoidant identity state of DID, in line with previous research. The slower reaction times and increased frontoparietal activation shown in individuals with diagnosed DID, as compared with both control groups, support the notion of cognitive avoidance of trauma-related information in DID and further reinforce the authenticity of DID experiences.

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