Building on the simulated-amnesia work of Christianson and Bylin (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 13, 495-511, 1999), the present research introduces a new paradigm for the scientific study of memory of childhood sexual abuse information. In Session 1, participants mentally took the part of an abuse victim as they read an account of the sexual assault of a 7-year-old. After reading the narrative, participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: They (1) rehearsed the story truthfully (truth group), (2) left out the abuse details of the story (omission group), (3) lied about the abuse details to indicate that no abuse had occurred (commission group), or (4) did not recall the story during Session 1 (no-rehearsal group). One week later, participants returned for Session 2 and were asked to truthfully recall the narrative. The results indicated that, relative to truthful recall, untruthful recall or no rehearsal at Session 1 adversely affected memory performance at Session 2. However, untruthful recall resulted in better memory than did no rehearsal. Moreover, gender, PTSD symptoms, depression, adult attachment, and sexual abuse history significantly predicted memory for the childhood sexual abuse scenario. Implications for theory and application are discussed.

The current study investigated effects of simulated memory impairment on recall of child sexual abuse (CSA) information. A total of 144 adults were tested for memory of a written CSA scenario in which they role-played as the victim. There were four experimental groups and two testing sessions. During Session 1, participants read a CSA story and recalled it truthfully (Genuine group), omitted CSA information (Omission group), exaggerated CSA information (Commission group), or did not recall the story at all (No Rehearsal group). One week later, at Session 2, all participants were told to recount the scenario truthfully, and their memory was then tested using free recall and cued recall questions. The Session 1 manipulation affected memory accuracy during Session 2. Specifically, compared with the Genuine group's performance, the Omission, Commission, or No Rehearsal groups' performance was characterized by increased omission and commission errors and decreased reporting of correct details. Victim blame ratings (i.e., victim responsibility and provocativeness) and participant gender predicted increased error and decreased accuracy, whereas perpetrator blame ratings predicted decreased error and increased accuracy. Findings are discussed in relation to factors that may affect memory for CSA information.

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