Does feigning amnesia impair subsequent recall?

Abstract

Defendants who are accused of serious crimes sometimes feign amnesia to evade criminal responsibility. Previous research has suggested that feigning amnesia might impair subsequent recall. In two experiments, participants read and heard a story about a central character, described as "you," who was responsible for the death of either a puppy (Experiment 1) or a friend (Experiment 2). On free and cued recall tests immediately after the story, participants who had feigned amnesia recalled less than did participants who had recalled accurately. One week later, when all participants recalled accurately, participants who had previously feigned amnesia still performed worse than did participants who had recalled accurately both times. However, the participants who had formerly feigned amnesia did not perform worse than did a control group who had received only the delayed recall tests. Our results suggest that a "feigned amnesia effect" may reflect nothing more than differential practice at recall. Feigning amnesia for a crime need not impair memory for that crime when a person later seeks to remember accurately.

Simulating Memory Impairment for Child Sexual Abuse

“…Session 1 condition manipulations have proven successful in prior studies (e.g., McWilliams et al, ; Sun et al, ). Analyses thus concerned Session 2 scores only.…”

“…Of interest, being in the Commission condition predicted decreased accuracy and increased omission errors as well. In their simulated amnesia study, Sun et al () reported that in their No Rehearsal and Omission conditions recall was significantly worse than in their Truth condition. Sun et al concluded that the effect was due to differential rehearsal.…”

“…Sun et al concluded that the effect was due to differential rehearsal. Indeed, lack of rehearsal is a common explanation for the effect of feigned amnesia (Sun et al, ; van Oorsouw & Merckelbach, ). Our accuracy findings are consistent with this interpretation, even when CSA information alone was considered.…”

“…Subsequent studies have expanded on the original Christianson and Bylin () research (Bylin & Christianson, ; McWilliams et al. , ; Sun, Punjabi, Greenberg, & Seamon, ; van Oorsouw & Giesbrecht, ; van Oorsouw & Merckelbach, ). In all of these studies, participants simulated memory error for a story or event during Session 1 and recalled the story or event truthfully in Session 2.…”

Cognitive Mechanisms Behind the Memory-Undermining Effect of Feigned Crime-Related Amnesia

“…Several studies have investigated the negative consequences of feigning amnesia on the actual memory for a crime (See Table 1; Bylin, 2002;Bylin & Christianson, 2002;Christianson & Bylin 1999;Sun, Punjabi, Greenberg, & Seamon, 2009;. The typical procedure to explore the memory-undermining effect of feigning crime-related amnesia is as follows: To begin with, individuals are usually exposed to a written/narrative script about a crime.…”