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Biomedical subjects

Simona Ghetti

Publications and source records attributed to Simona Ghetti.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

What are confabulators' memories made of? A study of subjective and objective measures of recollection in confabulation.

Confabulating patients claim to remember events that had not actually happened, suggesting a vivid subjective experience of false memories. The present study was aimed at examining the nature of subjective experience of retrieval in confabulators and its relation to the objective ability to recollect qualitative aspects of the original episode. In Experiment 1, 5 confabulators, 7 non-confabulating patients, and 12 control subjects studied words under shallow and deep encoding conditions and underwent a Remember (R)/Know (K) recognition task [Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology, 26, 1-12]. For recognized words, they additionally indicated two qualitative features of the encoding context. Whereas subjective (i.e. R responses) and objective (i.e. source) measures of recollection were associated in normal controls and non-confabulating patients, they were dissociated in confabulators. In Experiment 2, participants explained the content of their R responses. We found that confabulators' recollections mainly included autobiographical information related to test items, but not to the study encounter. We conclude that remembering states in confabulators may be linked to a deficit in inhibiting irrelevant memories triggered by test items during retrieval attempts.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

When true memory availability promotes false memory: evidence from confabulating patients.

We explored the extent to which confabulators are susceptible to false recall and false recognition, and whether false recognition is reduced when memory for studied items is experimentally enhanced. Five confabulating patients, nine non-confabulating amnesics--including patients with (F amnesics) and without frontal-lobe dysfunction (NF amnesics)--and 14 control subjects underwent the DRM paradigm [Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 21, 803-814.] in two experimental conditions. In both conditions participants studied eight lists of semantic associates, and free recall was tested after the presentation of each list. In the Standard condition recognition was tested after the presentation of all the lists, whereas in the Proximal condition patients were administered a six-item recognition task after the presentation of each list. Participants also provided remember or know judgements, and described the content of their recollections. All groups of patients recalled a lower proportion of targets and critical lures than did control subjects, but confabulators recalled more words unrelated to the studied lists than did NF amnesics and controls. All groups of participants improved true recognition across conditions. However, whereas normal controls suppressed false recognition to critical lures in the Proximal compared to the Standard condition, and non-confabulating amnesics showed comparable gist-based false recognition, confabulators showed increased levels of false recognition to critical lures across conditions. Furthermore, NF amnesics significantly reduced false recognition to unrelated lures in the Proximal compared to the Standard condition, whereas confabulators were unable to suppress false recognition to unrelated lures across conditions. Analysis of the phenomenological experience showed that, unlike non-confabulating amnesics, confabulators characterized true and false memories with irrelevant information related to test items. Results are interpreted in light of confabulators' monitoring deficits.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The development of the memorability-based strategy: insight from a training study.

We investigated whether the memorability-based strategy, a process supporting the rejection of nonexperienced event occurrence, could be promoted through training. The performance of children who received memorability-based training was compared with that of (a) children who received source-monitoring training and (b) children who did not receive any specific training but were instructed to be as accurate as possible. Participants (142 6- to 10-year-olds) enacted common and bizarre actions. Eighteen days later, participants received misinformation about the first session. Five days after being misinformed, children were questioned about the first session. Compared with children in the no training condition, those in both training conditions reported significantly more true events, but only older children who received the memorability-based training were more likely to reject bizarre suggested events. Age interacted with action type when metacognitive assessments about false event rejection were examined, consistent with the idea that the use of the memorability-based strategy develops late during the elementary school years.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2006

Developmental differences in false-event rejection: Effects of memorability-based warnings.

The present study investigated the development of the memorability-based strategy, a metacognitive process through which individuals reject the occurrence of false events if they do not remember the events and they expect them to be highly memorable. Previous research found that only older children spontaneously use this strategy. In the present study, we examined whether providing children with relevant information about expected event-memorability and inferences derived from it induced strategy use. Children aged 5, 7, and 9 (n = 144) were asked about true and false (high- and low-memorability) autobiographical events. Participants were either interviewed according to the standard "lost-in-the-mall" procedure, or were additionally provided with warnings. Warnings were either congruent or incongruent with assessments and decision processes involved in the strategy use. Results showed that receiving memorability-congruent warnings increased false-event rejection rates in 7- and 9-year-olds, but not in 5-year-olds. However, only older children were more likely to reject high-memorability compared with low-memorability false events. Developmental trajectories and factors affecting reliance on the memorability-based strategy are discussed.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2006

What can subjective forgetting tell us about memory for childhood trauma?

In the present study, we examined the prevalence and predictors of subjective forgetting (i.e., self-reported amnesia) of child sexual abuse (CSA). Adults who, as children, were involved as victims in legal prosecutions were questioned about their CSA experiences, which had been documented in the 1980s, and about lost and recovered memory of those experiences. Males and individuals who experienced more severe abuse were more likely to report forgetting. The majority of individuals attributed their forgetting to active attempts to avoid thinking about the abuse. In contrast, when predictors of subjective forgetting were used to predict objective memory of abuse, more severe abuse and more extended legal involvement were associated with fewer memory errors. The differences between subjective and objective memory underscore the risks of using subjective measures to assess lost memory of abuse.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Traumatic impact predicts long-term memory for documented child sexual abuse.

Prospective studies of adults' memories of documented child sexual abuse (CSA) reveal that the majority of individuals remember their victimization. However, the accuracy of these memories has rarely been investigated scientifically. The present study examined predictors of memory accuracy and errors 12 to 21 years after abuse ended for individuals with legal experiences resulting from documented CSA. Severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology was positively associated with memory accuracy. However, individuals nominating CSA as their most traumatic life event exhibited relatively accurate memory regardless of indicators of PTSD. Predictors of memory errors were also identified (e.g., less maternal support). These results indicate that, in addition to understanding the role of traditional cognitive factors, understanding an event's traumatic impact is important for predicting the accuracy of long-term memory for reported CSA.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Childhood sexual assault victims: long-term outcomes after testifying in criminal court.

We report a longitudinal study of long-term outcomes of participating in criminal cases following child sexual abuse (CSA). In the 1980s, 218 child victim/witnesses took part in a study of short-term sequelae of legal involvement. Approximately 12 years later, 174 of them, as well as a comparison group of 41 matched individuals with no CSA history, were interviewed about their mental health and legal attitudes. Being young when the legal case started was associated with poorer later adjustment. Additionally, even when controlling for psychological problems at the start of the legal case and other familial, CSA, and life stressors, testifying repeatedly in childhood predicted poorer current functioning. These associations were often moderated by the severity of both the CSA and the perpetrator's sentence: Testifying repeatedly in cases involving severe abuse, and not testifying when the perpetrator received a light sentence, predicted poorer current mental health. In partial contrast to the mental health results, being older when the case began and the perpetrator receiving a lenient sentence predicted more negative feelings about the legal system. In addition, not having testified when the perpetrator received a light sentence predicted more negative legal attitudes. Individuals' emotional reactions while waiting to testify and while actually testifying were also associated with their current mental health and attitudes toward the legal system: Greater distress predicted poorer adjustment, especially in individuals who were adolescents when they went to court. Greater distress also predicted more negative attitudes. Finally, when the former CSA victim/witnesses were compared with individuals with no CSA history, the former reported poorer adjustment and more negative feelings about the legal system. Results have implications for multilevel-transactional models of development, for understanding developmental sequelae of legal involvement following childhood trauma, and for social policy concerning the treatment of child victim/witnesses.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Individual differences in emotional memory: adult attachment and long-term memory for child sexual abuse.

In the present study, attachment-related differences in long-term memory for a highly emotional life event, child sexual abuse (CSA), were investigated. Participants were 102 documented CSA victims whose cases were referred for prosecution approximately 14 years earlier. Consistent with the proposal that avoidant individuals defensively regulate the processing of potentially distressing information (Bowlby, 1980), attachment avoidance was negatively associated with memory for particularly severe CSA incidents. This finding was not mediated by the extent to which participants reported talking about the abuse after it occurred, although post abuse discussion did enhance long-term memory. In addition, accuracy was positively associated with maternal support following the abuse and extent of CSA-related legal involvement. Attachment anxiety was unrelated to memory accuracy, regardless of abuse severity. Implications of the findings for theories of avoidant defensive strategies and emotional memory are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

A prospective study of memory for child sexual abuse: new findings relevant to the repressed-memory controversy.

Previous research indicates that many adults (nearly 40%) fail to report their own documented child sexual abuse (CSA) when asked about their childhood experiences. These controversial results could reflect lack of consciously accessible recollection, thus bolstering claims that traumatic memories may be repressed. In the present study, 175 individuals with documented CSA histories were interviewed regarding their childhood trauma. Unlike in previous studies, the majority of participants (81%) in our study reported the documented abuse. Older age when the abuse ended, maternal support following disclosure of the abuse, and more severe abuse were associated with an increased likelihood of disclosure. Ethnicity and dissociation also played a role. Failure to report CSA should not necessarily be interpreted as evidence that the abuse is inaccessible to memory, although inaccessibility or forgetting cannot be ruled out in a subset of cases.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Consistency in children's reports of sexual and physical abuse.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of the present study was to investigate the consistency of children's reports of sexual and physical abuse. METHOD: A group of 222 children, ages 3-16 years, participated. As part of legal investigations, the children were interviewed twice about their alleged experiences of abuse. The consistency of children's reports of sexual and physical abuse was examined in the two interviews, in relation to age, type of abuse, gender, memory, suggestibility, and cognitive capabilities. RESULTS: Older children were more consistent than younger children in their reports of sexual and physical abuse. Children were more consistent when reporting sexual abuse than physical abuse. Girls were more consistent than boys in sexual abuse reports. Consistency in sexual abuse reports was predicted by measures of memory, whereas consistency in physical abuse reports was not. Cognitive abilities did not predict consistency in sexual abuse or physical abuse reports. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for understanding children's allegations of abuse are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

False memories in children and adults: age, distinctiveness, and subjective experience.

This study investigated developmental trends associated with the Deese/Roediger-McDermott false-memory effect, the role of distinctive information in false-memory formation, and participants' subjective experience of true and false memories. Children (5- and 7-year-olds) and adults studied lists of semantically associated words. Half of the participants studied words alone, and half studied words accompanied by pictures. There were significant age differences in recall (5-year-olds evinced more false memories than did adults) but not in recognition of critical lures. Distinctive information reduced false memory for all age groups. Younger children provided with distinctive information, and older children and adults regardless of whether they viewed distinctive information, expressed higher levels of confidence in true than in false memories. Source attributions did not significantly differ between true and false memories. Implications for theories of false memory and memory development are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

"If it happened, I would remember it": strategic use of event memorability in the rejection of false autobiographical events.

The present research investigated the link between perceived event memorability and false-event rejection. In 2 studies, event salience, plausibility, and recency were manipulated. Study 1 showed that high-salience events elicited higher memorability ratings than low-salience events for 5-, 7-, 9-year-olds and adults. Plausibility and recency affected only 9-year-olds' and adults' judgments. Study 2 demonstrated that younger versus older children and adults were less likely to reject false events, and that older children and adults were more likely to reject false events based on salience than were younger children. High-recency false events were more likely to be rejected than low-recency false events. Consistent with prediction, recency moderated the effect of salience. The development of metamemorial awareness and rejection strategies is discussed.

Autobiographies as Topic↗