Good, difficult question. I think it is important to differentiate the causal question you have asked from the associative question of whether memories for traumatic events tend to be more or less distorted than others. The second question is easier, if you examine some population of events, those which are traumatic (by most definitions of this) tend to be more important than those which are less traumatic. So, my car accident six months ago (for people who know me, no, this is made up) will be better remembered than when I cereal for breakfast six months ago. I discuss a similar example to this in the attached proper. Of course, there are traumatic events that get distorted and are not reported (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kamala_London/publication/239542198_Disclosure_of_Child_Sexual_Abuse_A_Review_of_the_Contemporary_Empirical_Literature/links/0f3175339c111e90ad000000.pdf?ev=pub_int_doc_dl&origin=publication_detail&inViewer=true), but non-traumatic events (and my breakfast time is not traumatic) are less well remembered.
I am for the moment dodging your actual question (though I address it in the paper), but will be interested in others responses. There is research on the causal question but it is more difficult and requires more precise definitions. Elizabeth Kessinger (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elizabeth_Kensinger) has many useful papers.
Article Causal and associative hypotheses in psychology: Examples fr...
Article Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse: A Review of the Contempora...
This is due to the release of stress hormones that can impact functioning of the hippocampus, particularly the anterior hippocampus. The amygdala would be less impacted and emotional memories will, therefor, be less disrupted. This is why traumatic memories are frequently of the sensory or affective aspects of trauma.
Do any of you have any interesting references that can back your points up?
Presently I am analyzing war traumas and it can be clearly seen that dissociation - depersonalization and derealization - blurs the memory -- the trauma can be repressed or even never remembered
Reference:Judith (Lewis) Herman: Trauma and recovery. The aftermath of violence from domestic abuse to political terror. ISBN-10: 0465087302
Adding to the previous good responses, dissociation, as Béatrice has mentioned, may also contribute to memory disturbances. There are, at least, two explanations for that.
- As Merckelbach & Jelicic (2004), Merckelbach, Horselenberg, & Schmidt (2002), and Merckelbach, Muris, Rassin, & Horselenberg (2000) point out, people that dissociate more are more vulnerable to suggestive information, which may distort memory
- Because of the present study that I am doing (relation between trauma, dissociation, and sleep), I have stumbled with the idea of van der Kloet, Merckelbach, Giesbrecht, & Lynn (2012): for some people, intrusions of trauma-related memories are related with a labile sleep–wake cycle, that can have a damaging effect on memory.
Merckelbach, H., Horselenberg, R., & Schmidt, H. (2002). Modeling the connection between self-reported trauma and dissociation in astudent sample. Personality Personality and Individual Differences, 32(4), 695- 705.
Merckelbach, H., & Jelicic, M. (2004). Dissociative symptoms are related to endorsement of vague trauma items. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 45, 70–75.
Merckelbach, H., Muris, P., Rassin, E., & Horselenberg, R. (2000). Dissociative experiences and interrogative suggestibility in college students. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 1133–1140.
van der Kloet, D., Merckelbach, H., Giesbrecht, T., & Lynn, S. J. (2012). Fragmented sleep, fragmented mind: The role of sleep in dissociative symptoms. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(2), 159–175. doi:10.1177/1745691612437597
http://repub.eur.nl/pub/2853/
http://www.haraldmerckelbach.nl/artikelen_engels/2004/Dissociative%20Symptoms%20Are%20Related%20To%20Endorsement%20Of%20Vague%20Trauma%20Items.pdf
http://arnop.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=2521
http://www.haraldmerckelbach.nl/artikelen_engels/2012/Fragmented%20Sleep,%20Fragmented%20Mind.pdf
When looking up the relationship between dissociation and memory distortion I think it is worth differentiating the types of distortion. It may be better examining post-event information (PEI) distortion rather than DRM studies because the DRM effect requires both (internal) generation of the critical item and mis-attribution of the source. I'll link to a paper where I discuss that a little (and will try to find the actual paper tonight at home and put it on researchgate).
And it is important to differentiate poor encoding from distortion.
Article Memory Distortion and Dissociation: Exploring the Relationsh...
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