Effects of Imagery-Based Interventions on Voluntary Memory: A Systematic Review

Trauma survivors are often advised to delay trauma-focused treatment due to concerns that it may compromise the credibility of legal testimony. However, postponing treatment can impede recovery and increase the risk of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. This preregistered systematic review synthesized findings from 95 studies, using a narrative synthesis approach to examine the effects of experimental imagery tasks and imagery-based interventions (i.e., imagery rescripting [ImRs], imaginal exposure [ImE], eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and hypnosis) on voluntary autobiographical memory. Experimental tasks and hypnosis were frequently associated with imagination inflation and source confusion. In contrast, structured clinical interventions such as ImRs and ImE were not associated with memory impairment and sometimes improved recall or narrative coherence. Isolated eye movement tasks showed mixed effects in non-clinical contexts. Overall, the evidence suggests that suggestive procedures and insufficient autobiographical grounding contribute more to the risk of memory distortion than imagery alone. Although imagery-based therapies do not appear to impair memory in clinical settings, further research is needed to inform therapeutic safety and forensic standards.