- Social Demands and Compliance Some pseudomemories created in the laboratory appear to be reported in order to please the investigators. Reports of pseudomemories dropped dramatically when subjects were asked about their memories after the experiment was over. Bowman cautions that "highly hypnotizable subjects, in particular, appear sensitive to subtle expectations of interviewers." (Bowman, 1996, p. 238)
- The Interviewer's Beliefs and Attitudes Studies have shown that interviewer beliefs and attitudes can strongly influence reported memories. Therapists are cautioned to carefully monitor their interview techniques to avoid suggestiveness, especially if abuse is suspected. A supportively skeptical attitude is advised, where the therapist informs the client about the unreliability of memory and they "mutually explore the credibility of the memory in a supportive way." (Bowman, 1996, p. 239)
- Interview TechniquesThe most important rule of interviewing is to avoid leading questions. While repeated questions caused problems in some studies, repeated open-ended questions caused few inaccurate answers. Some studies even found increased information with increased accuracy when the same question was asked one week later.Some studies have found that very small changes in wording (such as changing "a" to "the") can influence the accuracy of memory. Other studies have found that scores on the Dissociative Experiences Scale do not correlate with suggestibility, implying that highly dissociative persons are not always more suggestible.
- The Passage of Time It is widely known that memory fades with time for most of us. This fact raises questions about the reliability of memories from childhood. Bowman cites studies which show that the content of flashbacks include both memories and imagination. Some studies have shown that the content of flashbacks concerning an injury is sometimes more severe than the actual injury. The author concludes that "time-delayed memories that return as vivid flashbacks are not necessarily accurate." (Bowman, 1996, p. 239) Some experimentally-induced pseudomemories appear to persist for at least several weeks.
Conclusions
Bowman has some recommendations for clinicians based on her review of the literature. She emphasizes that laboratory studies on memory outnumber in vivo studies. This body of research has rarely studied traumatic or stressful events. She notes that "92 percent of eyewitness studies conducted between 1972 and 1984 involved simulated events and college students." (Bowman, 1996, p.240). Laboratory research has not helped us understand more about the accuracy of suggestibility of delayed memories of trauma, "nor has it told us how to distinguish between accurate and inaccurate memories." (p.240). While it is clear that ordinary eyewitness memory is suggestible, the data is less clear for emotionally-charged memories of trauma.
Recommendations
Bowman recommends that therapists working with clients who have recovered memories of abuse encourage them to seek collaboration of the abuse. Clients should be educated early in therapy concerning the "vagaries of memory" and encouraged to carefully evaluate new memories as they emerge.
Therapists should avoid techniques such as hypnotic age regression when working with patients they suspect may have been abused in childhood. Any memories from before age three should be treated with skepticism. "Body memories can be a mix of accurate nonverbal memory and vivid fantasy, particularly in highly hypnotizable subjects." Therapists are cautioned to avoid the use of hypnotic age regression as a technique with these clients. She recommends that early memories be approached with "cautious neutrality." (Bowman, 1996, p. 241) A client's confidence in their memory should never be used as a measure of the accuracy of the memory.
Source: Bowman, Elizabeth Dissociation 1996
Last updated 2/25/06
