ABSTRACT-The current article presents two studies that aimed to replicate Freyd's (2001, 2004) studies demonstrating that high and low dissociators differentially recall neutral and trauma words under conditions of varying cognitive load. We did not find this effect. This lack of replication was apparent for both free recall and word recognition memory and in both studies. In effect, we found little evidence to support betrayal trauma theory, yet observed increased memory fallibility, as demonstrated by lower general recall and (in one study) commission errors, in high dissociators.It has been claimed that individuals who report childhood sexual assault (CSA) are at increased risk of adopting a dissociative coping style (Spiegel, 1997), have increased difficulty remembering trauma (DePrince & Freyd, 1999), and have increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Implicit to this line of argument is the assumption that cognitive mechanisms of memory and attention are implicated in the tendency to dissociate (Freyd, Martorello, Alvarado, Hayes, & Christman, 1998;Freyd et al., 2005). Accordingly, McNally, Metzger, Lasko, Clancy, and Pitman (1998) used a directed-forgetting task to study possible memory differences among adult survivors of CSA with and without subsequent PTSD and control subjects without a history of abuse. Although the PTSD group scored significantly higher than the other two groups on a measure of dissociative tendencies, this group did not differ on memory for trauma-related words following remember or forget instructions. However, compared with the other two groups, this group did display a deficit in memory for positive and neutral words following remember instructions. McNally et al. suggested that this latter effect was due to a general attentional bias for trauma-related material in people with PTSD.However, Freyd (1994) had reconceptualized the cognitive underpinnings of memory frailty as being related to degree of dissociation, rather than PTSD. As part of her betrayal trauma theory, Freyd suggested that sexual abuse by a caregiver places a cognitive burden on the resources of the victim: On the one hand, the victim resents the trauma of abuse, yet on the other hand, the victim has to rely on the abuser for care. Freyd theorized that the resulting conflict is resolved by the victim learning to dissociate from the memory of the abuse.Subsequently, DePrince and Freyd (2001) argued that a moderate degree of cognitive load would facilitate a memory effect whereby high and low dissociators exhibit differential memory for trauma words relative to neutral words. Using a directed-forgetting task, they examined the performance of high and low dissociators in a sample of students. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) was used to classify subjects as low (score of 10 or below) or high (score of 20 or higher) dissociators. The subjects viewed trauma, neutral, and positive words under three different attention conditions: selective attention (low difficulty), divided attention...

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Cerebral palsy describes the disordered development of movement and posture causing activity limitation as a result of nonprogressive disturbances in the developing brain, occurring in about 2 per 1000 live births. 1,2 The known or presumed timing of insults may be antenatal, perinatal or post-neonatal. Many children with cerebral palsy have associated conditions, including disturbances of cognition, behaviour and epilepsy. 3 Although cerebral palsy is, by definition, related to static brain anomalies, the manifestations of the disability