Mitchell L. Eisen

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.

Individual differences in suggestibility : Examining the influence of dissociation, absorption, and a history of childhood abuse

This study examined how individual differences in dissociation, absorption and a history of abuse are related to memory and suggestibility for the details of a personally experienced, known event. One hundred and thirty college students took part in a staged event and completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), and questions about each participants history of childhood abuse. One week after the staged event and initial testing, the students were questioned about the event. Dissociation and absorption were significantly related to errors on misleading questions but unrelated to errors on specific (non-misleading) questions. Reports of a history of child abuse were also related to dissociation and absorption but were generally unrelated to event memory or resistance to misleading information. Copyright

Consistency in children's reports of sexual and physical abuse

OBJECTIVE The goal of the present study was to investigate the consistency of childrens reports of sexual and physical abuse. METHOD A 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. RESULTS Older 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. CONCLUSIONS Implications for understanding childrens allegations of abuse are discussed.

Children's expressed emotions when disclosing maltreatment.

OBJECTIVE Our 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. METHOD One 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. RESULTS Most 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. CONCLUSION Fact 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. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Although 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.

Trauma, memory, and suggestibility in children

In this review we examine factors hypothesized to affect childrens memory for traumatic events. Theoretical ideas on the processing and remembering of trauma are presented and critiqued. We review research on how psychopathology may generally influence and dissociation and posttraumatic stress disorder may specifically influence childrens memory and suggestibility. The special case of child maltreatment is addressed as it relates to interviewing children about traumatic life experiences. Throughout we draw on current developmental, cognitive, social, and clinical theory and research. The review covers a controversial and exciting area of psychological inquiry.

Individual differences in eyewitness memory and suggestibility: examining relations between acquiescence, dissociation and resistance to misleading information

The purpose of this study was to investigate relations between acquiescence, dissociation, and resistance to misleading information. A total of 111 participants took part in a series of staged events and then completed both the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2). The participants returned to the lab 1 week later and were questioned about the details of their experiences during the previous session. As predicted, acquiescence as measured by the True Response Inconsistency Scale (TRIN scale) of the MMPI-2 was found to be significantly related to errors on misleading questions and repeated questions, but was not related to errors on non-suggestive specific and open questions. Scoring on the DES was found not to be related to acquiescence as measured by the TRIN scale, or errors on misleading, specific, or repeated questions. However, pathological dissociation was found to be related to both errors on misleading questions and indiscriminant variable responding as measured by the Variable Response Inconsistency Scale (VRIN scale) of the MMPI-2. These findings add to our developing understanding of factors that contribute to suggestibility in the interrogative context.

The Effect of Question Format on Resistance to Misleading Postevent Information and Self-Reports of Events Occurring During Hypnosis

Abstract Participants were administered a standard tape-recorded version of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) and then a modified version of the HGSHS:A response booklet that asked each participant to report which suggested behaviors they performed during the procedures. These response booklets were altered to include 3 additional suggestions not offered during the hypnotic procedures. Half the participants were administered the questions in the response booklet in the standard format (“I performed the suggested behavior” versus “I did not perform the suggested behavior”). The remaining participants were offered a third alternative to each question (“I do not remember this occurring”). As predicted, participants offered the 3rd alternative were significantly less likely to report performing actions that were never suggested during the procedures. Further, these participants reported performing fewer suggested behaviors (i.e., reported passing fewer of the true Harvard items) than participants in the standard 2-alternative condition.

Does anyone else look familiar? Influencing identification decisions by asking witnesses to re-examine the lineup.

Two experiments were conducted to see if asking witnesses to take another look at the lineup after they voiced their identification decisions would alter their choices, and if confirming feedback could then be used to solidify the selections they shifted to. Participants watched a simulated crime and were asked to identify the culprit from a photographic lineup. After voicing their identification decisions, participants were prompted to re-examine the lineup. Half of the participants then received confirming feedback for their decisions, regardless of whether they shifted to a new picture or not. Later on, a different experimenter escorted participants to a second room and administered the same lineup again. In Experiment 1 (N = 432), biased instructions were used to encourage choosing, and when participants were prompted to re-examine the lineup, 70% changed their identification decisions and selected a different picture. When that new selection was reinforced with feedback and participants were given a second opportunity to identify the culprit at a later time, 72% selected the picture they shifted to as the culprit. Participants who made their decisions more quickly were less likely to shift, but accuracy did not predict shifting. This general pattern of findings was replicated using unbiased instructions in Experiment 2 (N = 237). Results suggest that prompting witnesses to re-examine the lineup can often lead witnesses to change their identification decisions, and when the altered choice is reinforced, they will often stay with that influenced decision over time, asserting it with a high degree of confidence.

Examining the Prejudicial Effects of Gang Evidence on Jurors

This study was designed to examine the potential biasing effects of gang association on mock juror verdicts. Three hundred and fifteen undergraduate psychology students watched one of three versions of a simulated trial that included opening and closing arguments by the defense and prosecution, together with direct and cross-examination of the investigating officer and the victim/eyewitness. The three versions differed only in regard to mention of the defendants gang association. Gang association was manipulated by having the defendant described as either seen hanging out with gang members on the night of the incident (gang affiliate) or being a documented gang member with a gang tattoo (hardcore gang member). In the control condition, no mention of gangs was made. As predicted, when testimony on gang affiliation was introduced, guilty verdicts increased significantly. Overall, participants were more likely to find the defendant guilty in the gang affiliate and hardcore gang conditions when compared to the no-gang control condition. Various explanations for this effect are examined, and the implications of these data are discussed.