False Memories in Women with Self-Reported Childhood Sexual Abuse: An Empirical Study

Although controversy exists about the validity of memories of childhood abuse, little is known about memory function in individuals reporting childhood abuse. This study assessed memories for previously presented words, including the capacity for false memory of critical lures not actually present i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2000-07, Vol.11 (4), p.333-337
Main Authors: Bremner, J. Douglas, Shobe, Katharine Krause, Kihlstrom, John F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Attention
Battered women
Child abuse
Child abuse & neglect
Child Abuse, Sexual - psychology
Childhood
False memory
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Men
Mental Recall
Post traumatic stress disorder
Psychology
Psychometrics
Repression, Psychology
Research Reports
Sex crimes
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Symptoms
Verbal Learning
Violence against women
Women
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Summary:Although controversy exists about the validity of memories of childhood abuse, little is known about memory function in individuals reporting childhood abuse. This study assessed memories for previously presented words, including the capacity for false memory of critical lures not actually present in the word list, in 63 subjects, including abused women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), abused women without PTSD, and men and women without abuse or PTSD. Abused women with PTSD had a higher frequency of false recognition memory of critical lures (95%) than abused women without PTSD (78%), nonabused women without PTSD (79%), or nonabused men without PTSD (86%). PTSD women also showed poorer memory for studied words and increased insertions of non-studied words other than critical lures. These findings are consistent with a broad range of memory alterations in abused women with PTSD.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1111/1467-9280.00266