Demand characteristics check
We assessed demand effects in both conditions at the end of the study. Participants in
the verbal condition were asked “How much, if at all would you predict that focusing on
describing your distressing memories in words, rather than recalling them normally,
would affect any negative feelings?” Participants in the imagery condition were asked
“How much, if at all would you predict that focusing on imagining your distressing
memories in your head, rather than recalling them normally would affect any negative
feelings?.” Each was rated on a 10-point scale, where 0 indicated “very much decrease”
negative feelings, 5 indicated “do nothing” and 10 indicated “very much increase”
negative feelings.