False memories in women with self-reported childhood sexual abuse: An empirical study

Although controversy exists about the validity of memories of childhood abu se, little is known about memory function in individuals reporting childhoo d abuse. This study assessed memories for previously presented words, inclu ding the capacity for Salse memory of critical lures not actually present i n the word list, in 63 subjects, including abused women with posttrautmatic str-ess disorder (PTSD), abused women without PTSD, and men and women with out abuse or PTSD. Abused women with PTSD had a higher-frequency of Salse r ecognition memory of critical lures (95%) than abused women without PTSD (7 8%), nonabused women without PTSD (79%), or nonabused men without PTSD (86% ). PTSD women also showed poorer memory for. studied words and increased in sertions of non-studied words other than critical lures. These findings are consistent with a broad range of memory alterations in abused women with P TSD.