HD 300 1nd Edition Exam 3 Study Guide Units 15 22 Units 15 through 22 Memory and Child Witnesses What other factors can alter memories Children view adults as a credible and competent sources of information may try to conform to make their answers fit what they think the questioner wants when asked a question more than once Suggestion fishing Be familiar with the various levels long term short term etc and types infantile flashbulb implicit explicit etc of memory Levels of Memory o Perception individual senses or perceives something o Short term memory 15 30 seconds o Decision conscious or unconscious on what to retain o Intermediate memory 30 seconds o Long term memory Some things get stored here but we are unaware that they are May last a lifetime May change over time but usually pretty set May not be able to access it readily Types of Memory o Infantile memory Inability to remember early memories or events that occurred very early in life Memories are not encoded in long term memory Piaget Other researchers claim that earliest memories are either Encoded differently and therefore not remembered They are there but no retrieval mechanism o Implicit memory Represent earliest fundamental neural system functioning Unconscious but affect behavior without us understanding why o Explicit Memory Can be immediately recalled How we can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing at a specific point in time Flashbulb Memory an incident so profound that it is captured like a picture in our memories o Psychological defense mechanisms Suppression A conscious decision to put the memory on the back burner The memory maybe manifest in other behaviors such as promiscuity eating disorders etc Its like a computer icon Repression Unconscious o The event is so traumatic that the psyche cannot deal with it It is forgotten but is stored in the brain somewhere These events may also be manifest in behaviors but the person has no recollection of past events The memory may appear in dreams or flashbacks What is mnemonics a device such as a pattern of letters ideas or associations that assists in remembering something What are the pros and cons of using anatomically correct dolls helpers How should they be used Pros of using anatomically correct dolls o Help younger children express what they need to if they do not have the verbal skills needed to describe their experience Concerns of the anatomically correct dolls o The dolls are suggestive and encourage the child to engage in sexual play even if they have not been abused o No comparative information on non abused children s play with the dolls o No standardized method for using the dolls How to use o Hand the child the dolls and tell them to choose which ones they need to show what happened o Ask open ended questions o The helpers are dressed o Disclosure of abuse must occur prior to playing with the doll o Avoid yes or no questions never mention a perpetrator o Get the child to demonstrate what they saying answers a million questions and saves time o If the child doesn t know what to do with the doll put them away What is suggestibility How does it affect child witnesses Children are suggestible o Have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy o Susceptible to coaching from an authority figure o Potentially les reliable than adult witnesses Research has shown mixed result o Evidence of age related changes under some conditions but not others younger children appear to be more susceptible to suggestions compared to older children research has not resolved the difference instead it has fueled debates False Memory Syndrome What is it and how does it occur Memory is not exact open to individual interpretation and can be based on suggestions that an event occurred when in fact it did not More to do with suggestibility and less to do with memory How do you assess validity of the child s report Credible memories are recalled spontaneously and early in the therapy process more likely to be triggered by something in the individual s environment rather than prompting False memories often do not appear until after much prompting and after a long period of time has passed Be familiar with the various psychological defense mechanisms Suppression o A conscious decision to put the memory on the back burner o The memory maybe manifest in other behaviors such as promiscuity eating disorders etc o It s like a computer icon Repression Unconscious The event is so traumatic that the psyche cannot deal with it It is forgotten but is stored in the brain somewhere o These events may also be manifest in behaviors but the person has no recollection of past events o The memory may appear in dreams or flashbacks Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD What is it What kinds of experiences cause it Involves exposure to a traumatic event The person experienced witnessed or was threatened with death or serious injury or there was a threat to the physical integrity of self or other and the response involved intense fear helplessness or horror What are some of the features of PTSD Re experiencing the event o Recurrent intrusive distressing images thoughts or perceptions o Recurrent distressing dreams of the event o Acting of feeling as if the event were recurring reliving the event o Intense psychological distress or reactivity when exposed to cues resembling an aspect of the traumatic event Avoidance numbing o Avoidance of thoughts feeling or conversations associated with the trauma o Avoidance of activities places or people that arouse recollections of the trauma o Inability to recall important aspects of the trauma o Diminished interest in significant activities o Felling estranged from others o Sense of foreshortened future sense of doom Persistent symptoms of increased arousal o Difficulty falling asleep and or staying asleep o Irritability or outburst of anger o Difficulty concentrating o Hypervigilance o Exaggerated startle response What are some of the manifestations of PTSD in children Repetitive play in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed Recurrent and frightening dreams or night terrors Trauma specific re enactment Avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma Numbing of general responsiveness Re enacted of the trauma involving another child or a pet in the re enactment Persistent symptoms of increased arousal Repeated visualization What is a flashback A sudden and disturbing vivid memory of an event in the past What is cell memory Cell memory