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Memory development: implications for adults recalling childhood experiences in the courtroom

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 14, pages 869–876 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Adults frequently provide compelling, detailed accounts of early childhood experiences in the courtroom. Judges and jurors are asked to decide guilt or innocence based solely on these decades-old memories using 'common sense' notions about memory. However, these notions are not in agreement with findings from neuroscientific and behavioural studies of memory development. Without expert guidance, judges and jurors may have difficulty in properly adjudicating the weight of memory evidence in cases involving adult recollections of childhood experiences.

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Figure 1: Distribution of adults' memories of early childhood experiences.
Figure 2: Semantic representations in younger and older children.

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  1. Department of Psychology, City University London, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0HB, UK

    Mark L. Howe

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Howe, M. Memory development: implications for adults recalling childhood experiences in the courtroom. Nat Rev Neurosci 14, 869–876 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3627

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