Jianjian Qin

False Memories in Children and Adults: Age, Distinctiveness, and Subjective Experience

This study investigated developmental trends associated with the Deese/Roediger-McDermott false-memory effect, the role of distinctive information in false-memory formation, and participants subjective experience of true and false memories. Children (5- and 7-year-olds) and adults studied lists of semantically associated words. Half of the participants studied words alone, and half studied words accompanied by pictures. There were significant age differences in recall (5-year-olds evinced more false memories than did adults) but not in recognition of critical lures. Distinctive information reduced false memory for all age groups. Younger children provided with distinctive information, and older children and adults regardless of whether they viewed distinctive information, expressed higher levels of confidence in true than in false memories. Source attributions did not significantly differ between true and false memories. Implications for theories of false memory and memory development are discussed.

Maltreated Children's Memory: Accuracy, Suggestibility, and Psychopathology

Memory, suggestibility, stress arousal, and trauma-related psychopathology were examined in 328 3- to 16-year-olds involved in forensic investigations of abuse and neglect. Childrens memory and suggestibility were assessed for a medical examination and venipuncture. Being older and scoring higher in cognitive functioning were related to fewer inaccuracies. In addition, cortisol level and trauma symptoms in children who reported more dissociative tendencies were associated with increased memory error, whereas cortisol level and trauma symptoms were not associated with increased error for children who reported fewer dissociative tendencies. Sexual and/or physical abuse predicted greater accuracy. The study contributes important new information to scientific understanding of maltreatment, psychopathology, and eyewitness memory in children.

Memory and suggestibility in maltreated children: Age, stress arousal, dissociation, and psychopathology☆

The present study was designed to assess childrens memory and suggestibility in the context of ongoing child maltreatment investigations. One hundred eighty-nine 3-17-year-olds involved in evaluations of alleged maltreatment were interviewed with specific and misleading questions about an anogenital examination and clinical assessment. For the anogenital examination, childrens stress arousal was indexed both behaviorally and physiologically. For all children, individual-difference data were gathered on intellectual and short-term memory abilities, general psychopathology, and dissociative tendencies. Interviewers ratings were available for a subset of children concerning the amount of detail provided in abuse disclosures. Results indicated that general psychopathology, short-term memory, and intellectual ability predicted facets of childrens memory performance. Older compared to younger children evinced fewer memory errors and greater suggestibility resistance. Age was also significantly related to the amount of detail in childrens abuse disclosures. Neither dissociation nor stress arousal significantly predicted childrens memory. Implications for understanding maltreated childrens eyewitness memory are discussed.

Source ROCS are (typically) curvilinear : Comment on Yonelinas (1999)

On the basis of his assumption that recollection is a threshold process, A. P. Yonelinas (1999) predicted linear source-identification receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) and recently reported data that were consistent with this prediction. In this article, the authors present data showing curvilinear source-identification ROCs across various encoding and test conditions. On the basis of the source-monitoring framework (e.g., M. K. Johnson, S. Hashtroudi, & D. S. Lindsay, 1993), the authors argue that curvilinearity of source-identification ROCs is a result of differences in the qualitative characteristics of memories rather than simply the influence of undifferentiated familiarity as the dual-process model might suggest.

Individual differences in children's and adults' suggestibility and false event memory

Abstract In this article, we provide an overview of the emerging area of research concerning individual differences in childrens memory, suggestibility, and false event reports. We begin with a discussion of recent research on childrens false event memories. We then review research and theory concerning sources of individual differences in childrens memory and suggestibility, including both cognitive (e.g., understanding of dual representations, source monitoring, imaginativeness, and event knowledge), and social-personality (e.g., attachment styles and temperament, parent-child communication, and sequelae of maltreatment) influences, and we highlight implications of these sources for childrens false event reports. Finally, we examine how individual-difference factors proposed to mediate adults false memories relate to those that may mediate childrens false memories.

Consistency in children's reports of sexual and physical abuse

OBJECTIVEnThe goal of the present study was to investigate the consistency of childrens reports of sexual and physical abuse.nnnMETHODnA group of 222 children, ages 3-16 years, participated. As part of legal investigations, the children were interviewed twice about their alleged experiences of abuse. The consistency of childrens reports of sexual and physical abuse was examined in the two interviews, in relation to age, type of abuse, gender, memory, suggestibility, and cognitive capabilities.nnnRESULTSnOlder children were more consistent than younger children in their reports of sexual and physical abuse. Children were more consistent when reporting sexual abuse than physical abuse. Girls were more consistent than boys in sexual abuse reports. Consistency in sexual abuse reports was predicted by measures of memory, whereas consistency in physical abuse reports was not. Cognitive abilities did not predict consistency in sexual abuse or physical abuse reports.nnnCONCLUSIONSnImplications for understanding childrens allegations of abuse are discussed.

Children's expressed emotions when disclosing maltreatment.

OBJECTIVEnOur goal was to examine childrens expressed emotions when they disclose maltreatment. Little scientific research exists on this topic, and yet childrens emotional expressions at disclosure may inform psychological theory and play a crucial role in legal determinations.nnnMETHODnOne hundred and twenty-four videotaped forensic interviews were coded for childrens emotional displays. In addition, childrens trauma-related symptoms (depression, dissociation, and PTSD) and global adaptive functioning were assessed, and abuse type and frequency were documented.nnnRESULTSnMost children in the sample evinced neutral emotion during disclosure. However, stronger negative reactions were linked to indices of psychopathology. Number of abuse experiences was inversely related to negative emotional displays.nnnCONCLUSIONnFact finders may profit from knowing that maltreated children do not necessarily cry or display strong emotion when disclosing maltreatment experiences. Nevertheless, predictors of greater negative affect at disclosure can be identified: fewer abuse experiences; higher global adaptive functioning; and for sexually abused children, greater dissociative tendencies.nnnPRACTICE IMPLICATIONSnAlthough further research is needed, practitioners should consider that children who disclose abuse may display relatively neutral affect despite having experienced maltreatment.

Event memory and suggestibility in abused and neglected children: Trauma-related psychopathology and cognitive functioning

This study examined event memory and suggestibility in 3- to 16-year-olds involved in forensic investigations of child maltreatment. A total of 322 children were interviewed about a play activity with an unfamiliar adult. Comprehensive measures of individual differences in trauma-related psychopathology and cognitive functioning were administered. Sexually and/or physically abused children obtained higher dissociation scores than neglected children, and sexually abused children were more likely to obtain a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder than physically abused children, neglected children, and children with no substantiated abuse histories. Overall, older children and children with better cognitive functioning produced more correct information and fewer memory errors. Abuse status per se did not significantly predict childrens memory or suggestibility whether considered alone or in interaction with age. However, among highly dissociative children, more trauma symptoms were associated with greater inaccuracy, whereas trauma symptoms were not associated with increased error for children who were lower in dissociative tendencies. Implications of the findings for understanding eyewitness memory in maltreated children are discussed.

A comparison of two forms of hearsay in child sexual abuse cases

The present study was designed to compare two forms of hearsay: videotaped hearsay and hearsay supplied by an adult witness. In elaborately staged, mock child sexual abuse trials, jurors were presented with (a) videotaped forensic interviews of children who, in actual legal cases, disclosed abuse or (b) a police officer who repeated the childrens videotaped statements. In addition, a subset of jurors who viewed the videotape during trial were allowed access to the videotape during deliberations. Findings indicated that manner of presentation of childrens testimony had an indirect effect on verdicts. Jurors in the videotape conditions were more likely to believe that the child fully disclosed during the forensic interview, which in turn influenced ratings of child believability. The latter ratings were the strongest predictor of defendant-guilt judgments.

CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR UNDERSTANDING SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS

OBJECTIVESnThe goals of the present study were to examine the extent of childrens religious, especially satanic, knowledge and to understand the influence of childrens age, religious training, family, and media exposure on that knowledge.nnnMETHODSnUsing a structured interview, 48 3- to 16-year-old children were questioned about their knowledge of: (a) religion and religious worship; (b) religion-related symbols and pictures; and (c) movies, music, and television shows with religious and horror themes.nnnRESULTSnAlthough few children evinced direct knowledge of ritual abuse, many revealed general knowledge of satanism and satanic worship. With age, childrens religious knowledge increased and became more sophisticated. Increased exposure to nonsatanic horror media was associated with more nonreligious knowledge that could be considered precursory to satanic knowledge, and increased exposure to satanic media was associated with more knowledge related to satanism.nnnCONCLUSIONSnOur results suggest that children do not generally possess sufficient knowledge of satanic ritual abuse to make up false allegations on their own. However, many children have knowledge of satanism as well as nonreligious knowledge of violence, death, and illegal activities. It is possible that such knowledge could prompt an investigation of satanic ritual abuse or possibly serve as a starting point from which an allegation is erected.