Abstract
Maltreated (n=26) and non-maltreated (n=31) 7- to 12-year-old children were tested on the Deese/Roediger–McDermott (DRM) false memory task using emotional and neutral word lists. True recall was significantly better for non-maltreated than maltreated children regardless of list valence. The proportion of false recall for neutral lists was comparable regardless of maltreatment status. However, maltreated children showed a significantly higher false recall rate for the emotional lists than non-maltreated children. Together, these results provide new evidence that maltreated children could be more prone to false memory illusions for negatively valenced information than their non-maltreated counterparts.
Highlights
Many of the children involved in legal proceedings have been victims of physical or psychological maltreatment
Studies examining traumatized individuals (Moradi, Doost, Taghavi, Yule, & Dagleish, 1999), including those with early abuse experiences and who have been diagnosed with stress-related mental disorders (Bremner et al, 2003; Elzinga & Bremner, 2002; Kuyken & Brewin, 1995), have found maltreatment to be associated with a wide variety of cognitive difficulties such as reduced working memory performance (Matthias, Nater, Lin, Capuron & Reeves, 2010), difficulties in reporting autobiographical facts from childhood (Hunter & Andrews, 2002; Valentino, Toth, & Cicchetti, 2009; but see Greenhoot, Bunnell, Curtis, & Beyer, 2008), and increased memory errors in facial recognition tasks (Pollak, Cicchetti, Hornung, & Reed, 2000)
We examined maltreated children’s susceptibility to spontaneous false memory illusions using emotional word lists in a DRM task
Summary
Many of the children involved in legal proceedings have been victims of physical or psychological maltreatment. Being exposed to chronic stress during childhood may put children at risk for a wide range of behavioral and cognitive problems, including impaired memory function. Stress related cortisol elevations have been shown to have a negative effect on declarative memory (Elzinga & Bremner, 2002). Studies examining traumatized individuals (Moradi, Doost, Taghavi, Yule, & Dagleish, 1999), including those with early abuse experiences and who have been diagnosed with stress-related mental disorders (Bremner et al, 2003; Elzinga & Bremner, 2002; Kuyken & Brewin, 1995), have found maltreatment to be associated with a wide variety of cognitive difficulties such as reduced working memory performance (Matthias, Nater, Lin, Capuron & Reeves, 2010), difficulties in reporting autobiographical facts from childhood
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
