Gulp! Deep breath. Here goes.......I think you guys are wrong on this one!
I haven't been in a plane aborting takeoff but I have been in a car which t-boned another vehicle (his fault, honest!) and the decelleration effect is that you lurch forward against the strain of the seatbelt, then are thrown backwards against the seat. It's a 2-step thing. So the description is probably not inaccurate.
See 'Hot Shots', the Top Gun spoof, for a simple demo of this effect - complete with comedy sound effects. (The scene where the planes are landing on the carrier and snagging the arrestor cables)