LABORATORY RESEARCH: RECOVERED-MEMORIES

The research items below focus on the cognitive functioning of people with recovered-memories of abuse. The research examines the mechanisms that might enable people either to repress and recover memories of trauma or to develop false memories of trauma.

Claims have been made that people who repress childhood sexual trauma have special abilities. Do they?

If this type of research is new to you, we suggest reading first:

McNally R. J. (2003). Recovering memories of trauma: A view from the laboratory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 32-35. www.psychologicalscience.org

Barrett, H. M., & Parker, H. A. (2005). Reality monitoring in adults reporting repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 147-152.

Clancy, S. A., & McNally, R. J. (2005/2006). Who needs repression? Normal memory processes can explain "forgetting" of childhood sexual abuse, Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 4, 66-73.

Clancy, S. A., McNally, R. J., Schacter, D. L., Lenzenweger, M. F., & Pitman, R. K. (2002). Memory distortion in people reporting abduction by aliens. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 455-461.

Clancy, S. A., McNally, R. J., & Schacter, D. L. (1999). Effects of guided imagery on memory distortion in women reporting recovered-memories of sexual abuse, Journal of Traumatic Stress, 12, 559-569.

Clancy, S. A., Schacter, D. L., McNally, R. J., & Pitman, R. K. (2000). False recognition in women reporting recovered memories of sexual abuse. Psychological Science, 11, 26-31.
Link to abstract

Geraerts, E., & McNally, R. J. (2008). Forgetting unwanted memories: Directed forgetting and thought suppression methods, Acta Psychologica, 127, 614-622.

Geraerts, E., Schooler, J., Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., Hauer, B. J., & Ambadar, Z. (2007). The reality of recovered memories: Corroborating continuous and discontinuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Science, 18, 564-568.

Geraerts, E., Schooler, J., Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., Hauer, B. J. A., & Ambadar, Z. (2007). The reality of recovered memories: Corroborating continuous and discontinuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Science, 18, 564-568.

Geraerts, E., Arnold, M. M., Lindsay, D. S., Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., & Hauer, B. (2006). Forgetting of prior remembering in people reporting recovered-memories of childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Science, 17, 1002-1008.

Geraerts, E., Smeets, E., Jelicic, M., van Heerden, J., & Merckelbach, H. (2005). Fantasy proneness, but not self-reported trauma is related to DRM performance of women reporting recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Consciousness and Cognition, 14, 602-612.

Jelicic, M., Geraerts, E., & Merckelbach, H. (2008). No evidence for memory impairments in women with a history of childhood sexual abuse. Psychiatry Research, 157, 299-302.

McNally, R. J. (2012). Searching for repressed memory. In R. F. Belli (Ed.), True and false recovered memories: Toward a reconciliation of the debate (pp. 121-147). Vol. 58: Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. New York: Springer.
Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Searching For Repressed Memory

McNally, R. J., & Geraerts, E. (2009). A new solution to the recovered memory debate, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 126-134.

Meyersburg, C. A., Bogdan, R., Gallo, D. A., & McNally, R. J. (2009). False memory propensity in people reporting recovered memories of past lives, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 399-404.

McNally, R. J., Perlman, C. A., Ristuccia, C. S., & Clancy, S. A. (2006). Clinical characteristics of adults reporting repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 237-242. Link to abstract

McNally, R. J. (2006). The science and folklore of traumatic amnesia, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 29-33.

McNally, R. J., Clancy, S. A., Barrett, H. M., Parker, H. A., Ristuccia, C. S., & Perlman, C. A. (2006). Autobiographical memory specificity in adults reporting repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Cognition and Emotion, 20, 527-535.

McNally, R. J., & Clancy, S. A. (2005). Sleep paralysis, sexual abuse, and space alien abduction, Transcultural Psychiatry, 42, 113-122.

McNally, R. J., & Clancy, S. A. (2005). Sleep paralysis in adults reporting repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 19, 595-602.

McNally, R. J., Ristuccia, C. S., & Perlman, C. A. (2005). Forgetting of trauma cues in adults reporting continuous or recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Science, 16, 336-340. Link to abstract

McNally, R. J., Clancy, S. A., & Schacter, D. L. (2001). Directed forgetting of trauma cues in adults reporting repressed or recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 151-156.

McNally, R. J. (2001). The cognitive psychology of repressed and recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse: Clinical implications. Psychiatric Annals, 31, 509-514.

McNally, R. J., Clancy, S. A., Schacter, D. L., & Pitman, R. K. (2000). Cognitive processing of trauma cues in adults reporting repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 355-359.

McNally, R. J., Clancy, S. A., Schacter, D. L., & Pitman, R. K. (2000). Personality profiles, dissociation, and absorption in women reporting repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 1033-1037.

McNally, R. J., Metzger, L. J., Lasko, N. B., Clancy, S. A., & Pitman, R. K. (1998). Directed forgetting of trauma cues in adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 596-601.

Last Updated: April 3, 2014