Trauma and Long‐Term Memory for Childhood Events: Impact Matters

Abstract

In recent years, society has been stunned by high‐profile cases in which adults allege they were sexually victimized in childhood. A crucial issue in these cases is how accurately adults remember the traumatic childhood experiences. In this article, we examine the predictors of the accuracy of adults’ long‐term memory for maltreatment and events related to the maltreatment experienced in childhood. First, we discuss memory for negative or threatening information and how child maltreatment may affect memory. Second, we highlight methodological challenges inherent in this scientific inquiry. Third, we describe the findings from our longitudinal research on the accuracy of adults’ memory for child abuse and for subsequent involvement in the legal system. We conclude that, overall, the greater the traumatic impact experienced, the more accurate the later memory, although factors related to development, individual differences, and interviews moderate the effects of childhood trauma on the accuracy of adults’ memory.

Tele-forensic interviewing to elicit children’s evidence—Benefits, risks, and practical considerations.

“…Decades of research have revealed that how well a child recalls and describes their experiences is influenced by a broad variety of characteristics relating to the child, the event and how recall is elicited (see Brown & Lamb, 2015; Brubacher, Peterson, La Rooy, Dickinson, & Poole, 2019; Goodman, Quas, Goldfarb, Gonzalves, & Gonzalez, 2019; Lamb, Brown, Hershkowitz, Orbach, & Esplin, 2018; Saywitz, Lyon, & Goodman, 2017 for reviews). Here we highlight a few critical factors that are especially relevant to considering whether and how forensic interviewing should proceed when conventional processes are disrupted.…”

The relationship between trauma symptoms and immediate and delayed suggestibility in children who have been sexually abused

“…Longitudinal studies have shown that young maltreated children can accurately retain salient memories of their maltreatment well into adulthood (Alexander et al, 2005; Goldfarb, Goodman, Larson, Eisen, & Qin, 2018; Goodman, Quas, Goldfarb, Gonzalves, & Gonzalez, 2019). Whilst acknowledging that the relationship between negative emotional events, such as maltreatment, and memory is complex, for many adults the greater the traumatic impact of the childhood event, the more accurate the memory of the event in adulthood (Goodman et al, 2019). However, Goodman and colleagues note that the accuracy of the memory can be adversely affected by interview technique (e.g., leading questions, false suggestions) and individual differences (e.g., suggestibility).…”

Psychopathology, Global Functioning, and ADHD Persistence in Relation to Childhood Adversity: A Latent Class Analysis Approach

“…First and foremost, both the ACE and the LSC-R are retrospective measures (administered at Wave 4). However, the types of Association among Childhood Adversity Profiles & ADHD 22 CA included in our study have been shown to be significant life events-and research demonstrates adults' good memory for those important early events (Goodman et al, 2019;Cordón et al, 2004). Indeed, recent evidence even suggests that subjective self-report of serious CA experiences such as maltreatment, as opposed to objective measures (e.g., court documentation), may be more strongly associated with psychopathology even after adjusting for recall bias-although it is important to note that shared method bias may play a role in this association (Danese & Widom, 2020).…”