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

本研究旨在探讨儿童虐待是否与儿童目击记忆和执行功能（EF）的缺陷。在这项研究中，研究人员还调查了儿童的年龄和虐待背景（虐待与非虐待）之间的潜在相互作用，作为对目击者记忆和EF性能的影响。此外，研究人员通过检查受虐待儿童和未受虐待儿童在情绪唤起条件下对男女争论的记忆，来检查情绪唤起对目击者记忆的影响。以前关于儿童目击记忆的研究主要集中在未受虐待的儿童身上。因此，人们对有虐待历史的儿童的目击者记忆知之甚少，尽管这些儿童经常受到当局的询问（例如，虐待儿童和家庭暴力调查）。最近的研究表明，虐待的经验是相关的EF性能相对于控制的变化。此外，一些研究发现，EF（例如，工作记忆能力预测儿童的目击者记忆表现。在这个项目中，受虐待和未受虐待的9至15岁的儿童完成各种EF任务，包括工作记忆，反应抑制，注意力控制和认知灵活性的措施。在每个年龄段/虐待类别中，有一半的儿童在完成记忆任务之前暴露于引起情绪的刺激（男人和女人之间的争论），而另一半则暴露于类似的情绪中性事件。包括心理健康和创伤史措施。年龄和虐待状态的主要影响，和虐待状态的交互作用，预测EF和目击者的记忆措施。进行中介分析以调查虐待状态和目击者记忆之间关系的可能中介（例如，EF、状态焦虑和创伤相关精神病理学）。结果将表明是否情绪唤起刺激差异影响目击者的记忆表现的儿童（和没有）的历史虐待。

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.