For many years,
addressing the topic of false memories and/or false memory syndrome in adults
and children has been extremely important for several reasons. One specific
reason is because there may be times when children claim to remember incidents
of certain abuse or other trauma that haven’t actually occurred, simply because they have been
led to believe these memories are true. Parents or other caretakers may then
press charges against the accused and legal court proceedings will take place.
Therefore, according to (Fivush. 2002), “as a
growing number of children are brought in to the legal system, there is
increasing concern over their ability to provide credible testimony (p. 55).
This concern is also crucial during court proceedings that involve child sexual abuse, because
it can protect those who are accused by identifying the existence of false
memories.
Since, this possible issue must be
addressed in a highly professional and legal manner, researchers have also
produced extensive information that supports the idea that these memories can
be easily created in children and that they are way more dynamic and fluid then
people may initially understand. With this possibility in mind, the following work will address how false memories may be formed in children and what this
tells researchers about the nature of memory.
HOW ARE FALSE MEMORIES FORMED IN CHILDREN?
According to previous
research there are several ways that false memories can be formed in children.
One main cognitive reason that these memories may be created is due to
decreased memory strength or source confusion. This can also occur if the child
is experiencing some type of trauma or cognitive deficit. Although, this can
occur a second main reason that a child may recall this type
of memory is due to experiencing accidental or unintentional coaching. This can
occur when the child may hear things about an event that are untrue, but will
choose to believe that the information is factual.
One example of this is if a
young boy over hears his sister talking about details concerning her sexual
abuse. He may then process the details of this abuse as real memories that also
affected him. Furthermore, a third reason that false memories may occur is due
to intentional coaching. This can occur when others try to convince the child
that certain memories exist when they are actually invented for some other
purpose. According to (Leding. 2012), “within a variety of false memory
paradigms, including the misinformation effect, the imagination inflation
paradigm, and false confession research, persuasion strategies help create and
strengthen false memories” (p. 256). Therefore, the author believed that even
though false memories may be created without persuasion strategies, most will
occur due to factors like investigators that ask leading questions or
interrogators that try to elicit what they want to hear.
One other article that
supported the idea that children may be intentionally coached into reporting
false memories is based on how they are questioned in the courtroom. According
to (Lyon, Scurich, Choi, Handmaker, & Blank. 2011), “in child sexual abuse
cases, the victim’s testimony is essential, because the victim and the
perpetrator tend to be the only eyewitnesses to the crime. A potentially
important component of an abuse report is the child’s subjective reactions to
the abuse. Attorneys may ask suggestive questions or avoid questioning children
about their reactions, assuming that children, given their immaturity and
reluctance, are incapable of articulation” (p. 448).
In order to provide
evidence that supports this belief, two studies were conducted to compare how
children provide evaluative content, which included descriptions of emotion,
physical reactions and cognitive recall, in reply to different question-types. These
types included “How” questions, “Wh” questions, “Option-Posing” questions and
“Suggestive” questions. The results indicated that “How” questions seemed to
more productive in acquiring a higher level of factual evaluative content.
Since, this occurred the authors also suggested that interviewers and attorneys
should always ask “How” questions when they want to elicit evaluative reactions
that may be more valid and substantial to the case. Therefore, it is important
to ensure that children are questioned about the abuse in a way that it won’t
be leading or support persuasion strategies that direct or suggestive questions
may initiate. This way, the child may also have an easier time reporting real
memories versus those that are created based on what they think the
interviewers and attorneys want to hear.
WHAT DOES THIS TELL RESEARCHERS ABOUT THE NATURE OF MEMORY?
After learning
that false memories may occur accidentally or through unintentional and
intentional coaching, this can offer researchers further theories about the
nature of memory. One major idea that this may create is that some portions of
memory can always be distorted and influenced by new information. This
influence and/or information can also come from opinions that are shared by
external factors, such as authority figures, respected family members, or
cultural beliefs and it cannot be avoided.
Since this is the case, this could also provide further
evidence which supports something known as the Interference Theory. According
to (Anderson. 2010), this theory suggests that “forgetting is caused by other
memories interfering with the retention of the target memory” (p. 181).
Therefore, when children are unintentionally or intentionally manipulated in to
believing and processing memories of sexual abuse, this may also cause
extinction of previous memory which proves the new information is false and
there was no sexual abuse.
SUMMARY
For many years, researchers have been
addressing the topic of false memories which is also known as false memory
syndrome. Since, this can occur in both adults and children the need to
understand the true cause is extremely important for many reasons. One major
reason is because there may be occasions when children claim to remember
incidents of sexual abuse that never actually occurred simply because they were
led or manipulated by others. Parents or other caretakers will then press
charges against the accused and legal court proceedings will follow. When these
proceedings occur, there may also be concern about the credibility of the
child’s testimony because these memories may have been formed due to coaching
of some type. This concern is also warranted because the legal
outcome can drastically impact the lives of the child, family members, and the accused.
Since, the issue of false memories must
be addressed in a highly professional and legal manner; researchers have also
produced extensive information that may support the idea that these memories
can be easily created. This is especially true for children because they are
more impressionable toward certain external factors and may be easily
influenced. Therefore, certain research studies have provided evidence that the
procession of false memories may be way more dynamic and fluid then initially
suspected. Since, this might be the case the following work also addressed different ways
that false memories might be formed in children. Some ways include accidental
formation along with unintentional and intentional
coaching via certain persuasion strategies. Furthermore, since false memories
may occur through these factors, it also tells researchers that the nature of
memory can always be manipulated or distorted by incoming information and
during the procession of overall short/long-term memory in children.
References:
Wiley,
J. (2002). Children's Testimony: A
Handbook of Psychological Research and Forensic Practice. Wiley Series in
the Psychology of Crime, Policing, and Law. Retrieved via
the Kaplan Library at http://ehis.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/nlebk_90301_AN?sid=62e8ffef-b47b-456a-a411-f22391d7dbaf@sessionmgr113&vid=1
Leding, K. J. (2012). False Memories and Persuasion Strategies. American
Psychological Association
(2012). Retrieved via the Kaplan Library at http://ehis.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3353605f-3026-450a-a68f-252bf0054c1d%40sessionmgr114&vid=2&hid=114
Anderson,
R. J. (2010). Cognitive Psychology and
Its Implications (7th Edition). Worth Publishers. New
York, NY.
Lyo, D. T., Scurick, N., Choi,
K., Handmaker, S., Blank, R (2011). “How
Did You Feel?”: Increasing Child
Sexual Abuse Witnesses’ Production of Evaluative Information. American
Psychological Association (2012). Retrieved via the Kaplan
Library at http://ehis.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f2975da5-d370-4936-b644-b7303b61377a%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=116
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