ADDRESSING FALSE MEMORIES IN CHILDREN

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