Memory for child sexual abuse information: Simulated memory error and individual differences

Abstract

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 Development of Differential Mnemonic Effects of False Denials and Forced Confabulations

“…Of more interest, we found that participants were most likely to falsely deny that they discussed several details with an experimenter when they were instructed to deny experienced details a week before. Our experiment is the first showing the adverse effects of false denials on the reporting of information (but see McWilliams et al, 2014 …”

“…Because rehearsal strengthens long-term memory performance (e.g., Dark & Loftus, 1976), a lack of rehearsal might perpetuate impoverished memories for facets of the event. Furthermore, false denials might also lead to "no think" executive control mechanisms which might lead to a False denials 11 reduction of unwanted memories entering consciousness (Anderson & Greene, 2001;McWilliams, Goodman, Lyons, Newton, & Avila-Mora, 2014). Second, false denials might affect source monitoring.…”

Simulating Memory Impairment for Child Sexual Abuse

“…In an expansion and replication of an earlier study, participants who minimized their own culpability during Session 1 made more commission errors during Session 2 (van Oorsouw & Giesbrecht, ). Research in our own laboratory, in which participants simulated memory impairment for committing a crime (Newton, Ghetti, & Goodman, ) or for CSA victimization (McWilliams et al, ; Newton et al , ), has largely confirmed the aforementioned pattern of results.…”

“…Other victims may greatly minimize what happened, asserting that the abuse was not serious. From a memory perspective, such omissions or minimizations can be considered a lack of rehearsal of what really occurred, which can negatively affect later recall (Ghetti et al , ; McWilliams, Goodman, Lyons, Newton, & Avila‐Mora, ).…”

“…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.…”