Abstract
Previous studies showed that feigning amnesia for a crime impairs actual memory for the target event. Lack of rehearsal has been proposed as an explanation for this memory-undermining effect of feigning. The aim of the present study was to replicate and extend previous research adopting a mock crime video instead of a narrative story. We showed participants a video of a violent crime. Next, they were requested to imagine that they had committed this offense and to either feign amnesia or confess the crime. A third condition was included: Participants in the delayed test-only control condition did not receive any instruction. On subsequent recall tests, participants in all three conditions were instructed to report as much information as possible about the offense. On the free recall test, feigning amnesia impaired memory for the video clip, but participants who were asked to feign crime-related amnesia outperformed controls. However, no differences between simulators and confessors were found on both correct cued recollection or on distortion and commission rates. We also explored whether inner speech might modulate memory for the crime. Inner speech traits were not found to be related to the simulating amnesia effect. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed.
Highlights
Offenders in homicide and sex offense cases often claim crime-related amnesia (Cima et al, 2002, 2004; Pyszora et al, 2003, 2014; Bourget and Whitehurst, 2007)
When offenders adopt that strategy relevant information might be forgotten as it has been demonstrated that feigning amnesia has a detrimental effect on the genuine memory reported by feigners for those target events (e.g., Christianson and Bylin, 1999; van Oorsouw and Merckelbach, 2004, 2006)
With respect to our first hypothesis, feigning amnesia undermined the actual memory for the criminal event since simulators provided less correct information than confessors on the free recall
Summary
Offenders in homicide and sex offense cases often claim crime-related amnesia (Cima et al, 2002, 2004; Pyszora et al, 2003, 2014; Bourget and Whitehurst, 2007). Even though it is hard to determine to which degree defendants may intentionally feign amnesia following a crime, Pyszora et al (2003) found that 29% of a 1-year cohort of individuals sentenced to life imprisonment claimed memory loss for their deeds (31.4% of those convicted of homicide). Feigning Amnesia for a Mock Crime Video memory loss for their offense (Christianson and Merckelbach, 2004; Smith and Resnick, 2007; van Oorsouw and Merckelbach, 2010). What perpetrators truly remember about the crime may differ from what they select to report or claim to remember, because of the risk of undisclosed information in high-stake cases it is crucial for the legal context to ascertain how people remember remarkable information over time despite having previously feigned amnesia (Porter et al, 2001; Bourget and Whitehurst, 2007)
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