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Category: Project

Description: The present study examined whether mock offenders who were instructed to falsely deny crime details or to simulate amnesia consequently experienced denial-induced forgetting (DIF). Ninety-three university students were asked to commit a mock crime and were subsequently randomly assigned to one of three conditions before completing a memory test probing their knowledge of the mock crime. False deniers were asked to deny that they committed the mock crime, the amnesia simulators were instructed to fake having no memory of the mock crime, while truth-tellers served as controls. The following day, all groups completed a second memory test in which they were asked to respond truthfully. Results showed that participants in the false denial condition did not experience memory impairment for the mock event. However, memory for details discussed in the first memory test on the first day was significantly impaired on the second day in the simulated amnesia group thereby evincing DIF. This simulated amnesia group also had lower recollection and belief rates in the occurrence of true details for the mock event in comparison to the other groups.. These findings suggest that offenders can develop inaccurate memories for discussed details, and may end up with both diminished recollections and belief in their own memory after having simulated amnesia for their offences.