Children’s autobiographical memories across the years: Forensic implications of childhood amnesia and eyewitness memory for stressful events

Pain memory in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis with a meta-regression

ABSTRACT

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to analyze the accuracy of memory of pain and the variables that may influence it in children with acute, experimental, and chronic pain. We conducted a search in electronic databases from inception to February 11, 2022. Twelve observational studies and 3 randomized controlled studies were included in the study. The main outcome measure was the accuracy of the memory of the pain intensity (experienced/recalled). To compare the outcomes reported by the studies, we calculated the standardized mean difference (SMD) over time for the continuous variables. The overall meta-analysis showed a small effect size in favor of an overestimation of experienced pain intensity (SMD = 0.28). Subanalyzing per pain context, there was a small effect size in favor of overestimation in the clinical context (SMD = 0.33), but there was no evidence of any change in the accuracy of memory of pain in the experimental context (SMD = 0.07). The mean age of the participants and the proportion of girls significantly predicted the accuracy of the memory of pain. The period since the experienced pain measurement, the intensity of expected and recalled fear, trait anxiety, and anxiety sensitivity did not significantly predict the accuracy of the memory of pain. Children showed an overestimation in pain memory between the experienced and recalled intensity of acute pain, especially in a clinical context. Furthermore, only gender and age were predictors of the accuracy of pain memory. These results highlight the relevance of pain memory to medical practice and future research.

Emotional valence and the types of information provided by children in forensic interviews

BACKGROUND

Emotions can powerfully affect memory retrieval although this effect has seldom been studied in everyday contexts.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the association between children's verbal emotional expressions and the type of information reported during forensic interviews.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The sample included 198 interviews with 4- to 14-year-old (M = 9.36, SD = 2.37) alleged victims of repeated physical abuse perpetrated by family members conducted using the Revised NICHD Protocol which emphasizes a supportive interviewing style.

METHODS

Interview videos were transcribed and each conversational turn was coded to reflect the amount and type of children's verbal emotional expressions, forensic information provided, interviewers' demeanor, and type of question asked.

RESULTS

The verbal expression of negative emotions was positively associated with the production of more central details (β = 0.29, SE = 0.05, p < 0.001) and peripheral details (β = 0.66, SE = 0.07, p < 0.001), while the verbal expression of positive emotions was correlated with peripheral details (β = 0.29, SE = 0.15, p = 0.047). The verbal expression of negative emotions was associated with the production of more specific details (β = 0.73, SE = 0.06, p < 0.001]) and less generic information (β = -0.39, SE = 0.18, p = 0.029) whereas positive emotions were associated only with increased specific information (β = 0.28, SE = 0.12, p = 0.025).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight how emotional expression, especially of negative emotions, enhances the quantity and quality of children's reports in forensic contexts.

A focus on accuracy in misinformed mothers puts young children at risk for false memories

This research examined how mothers' goal orientation and exposure to misinformation can shape how mothers engage their children in conversation about past experiences and consequently affect the accuracy of children's memory reports. To investigate this question, 169 mothers were asked to talk with their preschool-age children (M_age = 55 months, SD = 6.15; 90 female) about an earlier nonshared event. Some mothers were instructed to focus on eliciting an accurate account, whereas others were told to talk naturally as in everyday life. Before this conversation, some mothers in each goal condition were exposed to misleading information about what their children experienced. Mothers focused on accuracy exhibited more bias in their conversations than those centered on talking naturally. When later interviewed, children with accuracy-focused mothers made more false reports and recalled less correct details than those with natural-focused mothers. These trends were found even when mothers were not misinformed. The implications of these results for children's eyewitness memory and suggestibility are discussed.

What is your earliest memory? It depends

This article is a selective review of the literature on childhood amnesia, followed by new analyses of both published and unpublished data that has been collected in my laboratory over two decades. Analyses point to the fluidity of people's earliest memories; furthermore, methodological variation leads to individuals recalling memories from substantially earlier in their lives. How early one's "earliest" memory is depends on whether you have multiple interviews, how many early memories were requested within an interview, the type of interview, participation in prior tasks, etc. As well, people often provide chronologically earlier memories within the same interview in which they later identify a chronologically older memory as their "earliest". There may also be systematic mis-dating to older ages of very early memories. Overall, people may have a lot more memories from their preschool years than is widely believed, and be able to recall events from earlier in their lives than has been historically documented.

Encouraging more open-ended recall in child interviews

The goal of child forensic interviewers is to obtain as much information as possible through open-ended recall. Unfortunately, typically interviewers quickly switch to focused questions. This article suggests a way of eliciting more open-ended recall by using the narrative elaboration (NE) procedure, which includes four initial prompts about event participants, context, actions, conversations, and thoughts. The procedure uses line drawings on cards as prompts and requires pre-training; although it substantially increases open-ended recall, in practice it is too time-consuming for regular use. The original NE procedure is compared with two streamlined versions with 3- to 7-year-olds: using NE cards with no pre-training and simply providing parallel NE verbal prompts without using the cards. The children in the streamlined NE interview with verbal prompts were found to provide as much additional information as those in the full NE interview, and considerably more than those in the control interview. Therefore, incorporating NE verbal prompts near the beginning of child interviews is an easy way to increase the amount of information that children provide in open-ended recall.

Cultural self-goals influence how much is remembered from early childhood events

OBJECTIVE

Prior work examining the role of cultural self-goals on the retrieval of early memories treated the presence of self-goals; such as autonomy and relatedness, as a binary category which has led to overlooking within-group nuances. Here, based on the idea that these goals co-exist in varying degrees in individuals, we explore the relative contributions of self-goals on age-at-event and the level of detail in positive and negative early memories.

METHOD

Participants (N = 119) recalled and dated two earliest positive and negative memories that they were highly confident were memories, and answered a set of questions about event-specific details. They also completed a self-construal scale.

RESULTS

For positive memories, Autonomous-Related Self scores predicted both the age-at-event and the amount of detail in early memories, while. no such relationship was observed for negative memories.

CONCLUSIONS

Together these findings indicate that cultural self-goals operate on the accessibility of early memories not only at the level of the boundaries of childhood amnesia but also on how much is recalled from early experiences.

Children as alibi witnesses: the effect of age and confidence on mock-juror decision making

This study investigated the influence of child alibi witness age and confidence upon mock juror decision making. Participants (N = 145) read a mock murder trial transcript containing the evidence of a defendant and a corroborating child alibi witness. Six versions of the trial transcript were created manipulating the alibi witness's age (8, 12, 16 years of age) and the confidence they displayed (high, low) while giving evidence. Despite a tendency towards returning not-guilty verdicts, no associations between alibi witness age, confidence and verdicts were found. However, confident alibi witnesses were perceived as more honest, accurate and reliable than unconfident alibi witnesses. The findings do not support the two-factor model of witness credibility, but do suggest that the alibi scepticism commonly found towards adult alibi witnesses may not extend as strongly towards children corroborating the defendant's alibi. More research is required before policy recommendations can be made.

Children who are coached to lie: does linguistic analysis help in understanding why these children are so believable?

In this study, the usefulness of linguistic analysis in determining the veracity of children's accounts is examined. The Linguistic Inquiry Word Count 2007 program was used to analyze 95 stories told by 5- to 14-year-olds who were telling the truth or a lie about the stressful experience of breaking a bone or requiring sutures for serious lacerations. Half of the children were coached by parents in preparing their story over the four days prior to giving their account. Differences emerged in the linguistic style used as a function of age, presence of coaching and event veracity. Very few linguistic categories emerged as significant predictors of event veracity, and the variables that did emerge were different depending upon the presence of coaching. Since in real-life situations one seldom knows a child's coaching history, these findings suggest that it is inappropriate to use linguistic analysis to assess the veracity of children's accounts.

The relationship between processing style, trauma memory processes, and the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms in children and adolescents

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Data-driven processing, peri-event fear, and trauma memory characteristics are hypothesised to play a core role in the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. We assessed the relationships between these characteristics and Posttraumatic Stress (PTS) symptoms in a sample of youth.

METHODS

Study 1 (N = 36, 7-16 years), involved a sample of children who had undergone a stressful orthopaedic procedure. One week later they answered a series of probed recall questions about the trauma (assessed for accuracy by comparison to a video) and reported on their PTS symptoms. They also rated confidence in their probed recall answers to assess meta-cognitive monitoring of their memory for the trauma. In Study 2, a sample of injured children (N = 57, 7-16 years) were assessed within 1-month of a visit to an Emergency Department, and then at 3-month follow-up. They answered probed recall questions, made confidence ratings, and completed measures of data-driven processing, peri-event fear, PTS and associated psychopathology. Memories were verified using witness accounts.

RESULTS

Studies 1 and 2 did not find an association between PTS symptoms and trauma memory accuracy or confidence. In Studies 1 and 2 data-driven processing predicted PTS symptoms.

LIMITATIONS

The studies had modest samples sizes and there were ceiling effects for some accuracy and confidence items.

CONCLUSIONS

Data-driven processing at the time of a trauma was associated with PTS symptoms after accounting for fear at the time of the trauma. Accuracy of recall for trauma memories was not significantly related to PTS symptoms. No decisive conclusion could be drawn regarding the relation between confidence in trauma memories and PTS symptoms.

Childhood Amnesia in Children: A Prospective Study Across Eight Years

This was a prospective study of earliest memories across 8 years for 37 children who were of age 4-9 years initially. In three interviews (initial and after 2 and 8 years) children provided their three earliest memories; those from earlier interviews that were not spontaneously provided later were cued. There was little consistency in the earliest memory or overlap across interviews in spontaneous memories. The youngest group also forgot over half their initial memories although few were forgotten by older children. For consistency of content, 25%-32% of information by former 6- to 9-year-olds was the same after 8 years, but < 10% provided by the youngest children was the same and 22% was contradictory. Emotion and contextual coherence predicted memory retention.

Is There Consensus About Children's Memory and Suggestibility?

The modern scientific study of children's eyewitness memory was initially motivated, in important part, by the sensational preschool investigations and prosecutions of the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., the McMartin case, the Kelly Michaels case, the Country Walk case). These cases form the centerpiece of Professor Cheit's scholarly book, The Witch-Hunt Narrative. In recent years, researchers have made great strides in helping the legal system tackle some of the complex issues involved in child sexual abuse investigations. While commenting on Professor Cheit's book, we review areas of consensus regarding child forensic interviewing, areas of disconnect between scientific laboratory studies and needs of the legal system, and the potential effects of bias on the scientific enterprise relevant to Professor Cheit's treatise. Although we find that there is consensus in the field regarding a set of general principles, there is often room for disagreement in evaluating a particular case, and there is still much to be learned about how best to interview children when allegations of sexual abuse arise.

Did the popsicle melt? Preschoolers' performance in an episodic-like memory task

Episodic memory has been tested in non-human animals using depletion paradigms that assess recollection for the "what", "where" and "when" (i.e., how long ago). This paradigm has not been used with human children, yet doing so would provide another means to explore their episodic memory development. Using a depletion paradigm, preschool-aged children were presented in two trials with a preferred food that was only edible after a short interval and a less-preferred food that was edible after the short and long intervals. Younger (mean = 40 months) and older (mean = 65 months) children tended to choose their preferred food after the short intervals, but did not switch to selecting their less-preferred food after the long intervals. Importantly, their choices did not differ with age. Although older children better remembered "what", "where", and "what is where" than did younger children, neither age group successfully estimated "how long ago" an event occurred. Finally, both age groups spontaneously recalled information about Trial 1. We also analysed the relation between the different measures used in the study but no clear patterns emerged. Results are discussed with respect to the cognitive mechanisms necessary to succeed in depletion paradigms and the measurement of episodic memory more broadly.

The accuracy of adult recall for early mild traumatic brain injury

BACKGROUND

Childhood mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) has been associated with negative adult outcomes. Effective interventions require identification of the injury event. There is currently little information regarding the accuracy of adult recall of childhood mTBI.

METHOD

Prospectively collected information from a large birth cohort was used to examine adult recall accuracy at age 25 for 161 childhood mTBI events occurring before age 10.

RESULTS

At age 25 cohort members recalled 11 outpatient injuries and 16 inpatient injuries. Recall accuracy increased with age. Logistic regression analysis distinguished between respondents who reported and did not report a childhood mTBI event correctly classifying 84.5% of cases. Age at injury, injury severity and loss of consciousness (LoC) made a unique statistically significant contribution to the model.

CONCLUSIONS

Most childhood mTBI events are not recalled in adulthood. Age at injury, injury severity and LoC significantly increase likelihood of recall and should be used in measures that evaluate whether injury has occurred. Implications for rehabilitation Traumatic brain injury occurs frequently and often results in ongoing deficits in attention, concentration, executive function and later mental health problems. Identification of a history of traumatic brain injury is essential to ensure that appropriate rehabilitative input is provided. Rehabilitation professionals need to be aware that mental health problems may be secondary to a prior traumatic brain injury. It is important for rehabilitation professionals elicit an accurate history of traumatic brain injury to ensure that their treatment plans are tailored to the needs of this group.

The Fate of Childhood Memories: Children Postdated Their Earliest Memories as They Grew Older

Childhood amnesia has been attributed to the inaccessibility of early memories as children grow older. We propose that systematic biases in the age estimates of memories may play a role. A group of 4- to 9-year-olds children were followed for 8 years, recalling and dating their earliest childhood memories at three time points. Although children retained many of the memories over time, their age estimates of these memories shifted forward in time, to later ages. The magnitude of postdating was especially sizable for earlier memories and younger children such that some memories were dated more than a year later than originally. As a result, the boundary of childhood amnesia increased with age. These findings shed light on childhood amnesia and the fate of early memories. They further suggest that generally accepted estimates for people’s age of earliest memory may be wrong, which has far-reaching implications.

When Parents Know Little about What Happened: Parent-guided Conversations, Stress, and Young Children's Eyewitness Memory

This study examined how 4- to 7-year-olds' memories for a stressor were influenced by conversations with a parent who had little knowledge of the target event, and the stress children experienced before, during, and after the event. Children (N = 43) watched a mildly stressful video before talking about it with a parent. Parents were asked to focus on either the children's feelings or the content of the video itself. A researcher interviewed the children about their memory following the conversation. Behavioral and physiological measures of children's stress were collected at multiple stages. Children recalled more inaccurate information with the parent than with the interviewer. Younger age and parent insecure attachment were associated with poorer memory. Manipulation of parents' emotion orientation did not predict memory, but individual differences in the talk did, although in different ways from what would be expected from research on conversations about shared events. Less stress (according to self-reported happiness and observed negative affect) before and after, but not during, the stressor was linked with better memory. Implications for children's memory in legal settings are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Getting to Know You: Familiarity, Stereotypes, and Children's Eyewitness Memory

The present study concerned how the acquisition of social information, specifically knowledge about personal characteristics, influences young children's memory and suggestibility. Effects of two sources of knowledge about a target person were systematically examined: familiarity and stereotypes. Children, aged 4-5 and 7-9 years (N = 145), were randomly assigned, per age group, to experimental conditions based on a familiarity (6 hours vs. no prior exposure) × stereotype (negative depiction as messy and clumsy vs. no stereotype) factorial design. Children then watched the target person engage in a target event (a series of contests) at a preschool ("Camp Ingrid"). The children's memory and suggestibility about the target person and target event were tested after a delay of 2 weeks. Results indicated that the negative stereotype resulted in an increase in children's correct responses both to free-recall stereotype-related questions (when children were unfamiliar with the target person) and to closed-ended questions overall (for younger children). However, the stereotype was associated with greater error to stereotype-related closed-ended questions. Moreover, familiarity increased children's accuracy to closed-ended questions. Implications for theory and application are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adults' Detection of Deception in Children: Effect of Coaching and Age for Children's True and Fabricated Reports of Injuries

A total of 1,074 undergraduates judged the truthfulness of children's interviews (from verbatim transcripts) about experiencing injuries serious enough to require hospital emergency room treatment. Ninety-six children (three age groups: 5-7, 8-10, and 11-14 years, 50% girls) were interviewed. At each age, 16 children told truthful accounts of actual injury experiences and 16 fabricated their reports, with half of each group coached by parents for the previous 4 days. Lies by 5- to 7-year-olds, whether coached or not, were detected at above-chance levels. In contrast, 8- to 10-year-olds' accounts that were coached, whether true or not, were more likely to be believed. For 11- to 14-year-olds, adults were less likely to accurately judge lies if they were coached. The believability of children aged 8 or above who were coached to lie is particularly disturbing in light of the finding that participants were more confident in the accuracy of their veracity decisions when judging coached reports.

The effects of e-simulation interview training on teachers' use of open-ended questions

Teachers in many parts of the world are mandated reporters of child abuse and maltreatment but very little is known concerning how they question children in suspicious circumstances. Teachers (n=36), who had previously participated in a mock interview scenario designed to characterize their baseline use of various question-types when attempting to elicit sensitive information from children, were given online training in choosing effective questions. They engaged in simulated interviews with a virtual avatar several times in one week and then participated in a mock interview scenario. The amount and proportion of open-ended questions they used increased dramatically after training. The overall number of questions, and amount and proportions of specific and leading questions decreased. In particular, large decreases were observed in more risky yes-no and other forced-choice questions. Given that most teachers may feel the need to ask a child about an ambiguous situation at some point during their careers it is worthwhile to incorporate practice asking effective questions into their training, and the present research suggests that an e-learning format is effective. Additionally, effective questions encourage the development of narrative competence, and we discuss how teachers might include open-ended questions during regular classroom learning.

Child maltreatment, trauma-related psychopathology, and eyewitness memory in children and adolescents

Two experiments were conducted to examine eyewitness memory in children and adolescents (9- to 15-years-old) with and without known histories of maltreatment (e.g., physical abuse, exposure to domestic violence). In Experiment 1, participants (N = 35) viewed a positive film clip depicting a congenial interaction between family members. In Experiment 2, participants (N = 31) watched a negative film clip in which a family argument was shown. Younger age and higher levels of trauma-related psychopathology significantly predicted commission errors to direct questions when the positive family interaction had been viewed, but not when the negative family interaction had been shown. Maltreatment history was not a significant unique predictor of memory performance for the positive or negative film clip. Implications for a scientific understanding of the effects of child maltreatment on memory are discussed.