Memory Development, Emotion Regulation, and Trauma‐Related Psychopathology

Abstract

Individuals with a history of trauma, particularly maltreatment, often have accurate memories for trauma‐related events. This does not mean that trauma never adversely affects autobiographical memory performance; indeed, some individuals with a trauma history reveal deficits in their memory performance while others at times show memory advantages over individuals without a trauma history. We posit here that individual differences in memory may be related in part to the emotion dysregulation and psychopathology resulting from the trauma and in part to the nature of the event to be recalled. In this chapter, we focus on the scientific literature on child maltreatment, trauma‐related psychopathology, and memory from a developmental psychopathology perspective. We summarize relevant theory and research on memory development, trauma‐related psychopathology symptoms, and psychophysiological and neuroscience processes relevant to child maltreatment. We also review behavioral studies on childhood trauma and autobiographical memory development. We discuss the translation of such research into clinical and legal practice. We conclude with future directions for research, with the hope of moving this crucial area of study forward to spawn new insights.

Childhood physical maltreatment, perceived social isolation, and internalizing symptoms: a longitudinal, three-wave, population-based study

“…However, the prevalence of childhood physical maltreatment in this study (4.9%) corresponds with that reported in other studies from Norway [1,[70][71][72]. Misclassification of childhood physical maltreatment maybe influenced by age, state of mind, and current psychopathology [73,2,9,74]; however, other evidence suggests that these biases should be fairly low [75][76][77]9,[78][79][80][81]. Moreover, some other reports have suggested that subjects under-report childhood physical maltreatment when it is measured retrospectively [82,83].…”

The potential protective effect of friendship on the association between childhood adversity and psychological distress in adulthood: A retrospective, preliminary, three-wave population-based study

“…Childhood adversity is assessed retrospectively, based on many fewer items than most other research of this nature. Several studies have shown that retrospective measurement of childhood adversity is fairly reliable and valid (Dube, Williamson, Thompson, Felitti, & Anda, 2004;Goodman et al, 2016;Havari & Mazzonna, 2015;Krieger et al, 1998;Robins et al, 1985;Ward, 2011).…”

Effects of Interviewer Support on Maltreated and At-Risk Children’s Memory and Suggestibility

“…The game was an innocuous experience rather than a salient personally significant, taboo, or traumatic event. The latter such events may be remembered with greater accuracy than the likely less memorable bean bag game (Goodman et al 2016). Furthermore, a longer delay before the interview would be expected to degrade memory for the inconsequential event studied here, perhaps leading to greater memory error and suggestibility in relation to interviewer support, a topic worthy of future research, although for highly consequential, embarrassing, and significant events, children can remember them even after long delays (Goldfarb et al 2019b).…”