Doctoral Dissertation Research: Child Maltreatment: Eyewitness Memory and Executive Function

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This research examines whether child maltreatment is associated with deficits in children's eyewitness memory and executive function (EF). In this study, researchers also investigate potential interactions between children's age and maltreatment background (maltreated vs. nonmaltreated) as influences on eyewitness memory and EF performance. Moreover, researchers examine effects of emotional arousal on eyewitness memory in maltreated and nonmaltreated children by examining their memory for an argument between a man and woman in an emotion-evoking condition. Previous research on children's eyewitness memory has focused primarily on nonmaltreated children. As a result, little is known about eyewitness memory in children with maltreatment histories, despite such children's frequent questioning by authorities (e.g., in child abuse and domestic violence investigations). Recent studies suggest that maltreatment experience is related to changes in EF performance relative to that of controls. Further, several studies find that EF (e.g., working memory) ability predicts children's eyewitness memory performance. In this project, maltreated and nonmaltreated children between 9 and 15 years of age complete various EF tasks, including measures of working memory, response inhibition, attentional control, and cognitive flexibility. Half of the children in each age/maltreatment category are exposed to emotion-evoking stimuli (an argument between a man and woman) prior to completing the memory task, whereas the other half will be exposed to a comparable, emotionally neutral event. Mental health and trauma-history measures are included. Main effects of age and maltreatment status, and an Age-Maltreatment Status interaction, are predicted for both EF and eyewitness memory measures. Mediational analyses are performed to investigate possible mediators of relations between maltreatment status and eyewitness memory (e.g., EF, state anxiety, and trauma-related psychopathology). Results will indicate whether emotion-evoking stimuli differentially influence the eyewitness memory performance of children with (and without) a history of maltreatment.