Evidence That Tetris Reduces Immediate but Not Subsequent Daily Intrusions of a Trauma Film: A Multilab Replication Study

Abstract

Reactivating a target memory and subsequently playing the computer game Tetris is thought to reduce intrusive memories and is being explored clinically. However, the current literature on the effect of Tetris on intrusions has limitations. To examine whether the previous finding from experimental research that Tetris reduces trauma film related intrusions is replicable in a large sample, we conducted a preregistered, multi-site study in healthy participants. Experiment 1 (N = 141) showed similar intrusion rates of an updated trauma film that was then used in Experiment 2. In line with previous findings, Experiment 2 (N = 433) showed that compared to a perceptual vigilance control task, Tetris reduced retrospective ratings of trauma film related intrusions during the task. In contrast to such an immediate effect, the hypothesis that Tetris reduces intrusions over the course of one week was not corroborated. Future research may examine the role of the format of delivering the experiment (i.e., in-person versus online sessions) and type of control condition (i.e., no-task versus active control). This may inform studies on whether, and in what settings, Tetris is a suitable intervention for clinical use.