| dc.description | In forensic settings, decision-makers are continually challenged with evaluating the credibility of reports of victimization. The present study was designed for several purposes: (1) to assess the qualitative and phenomenological features of truthful and fabricated narratives of trauma using the Memory Assessment Procedure (MAP; Porter, Yuille, & Lehman, 1999), (2) to determine the level of consistency of both narrative types, (3) to assess symptoms of trauma associated with truthful and malingered reports, and (4) to determine the utility of all measures in discriminating the veracity of victimization accounts. Undergraduate participants were asked to describe both a truthful and fabricated traumatic experience at three time periods: Time 1 (N = 291, initial), Time 2 (N = 252, three months), and Time 3 (N = 181, six months). Measures of narrative features and trauma symptoms were administered at each phase. Results demonstrated that truthful traumas contained more detail, contextual information, emotional details, and were considered more plausible relative to fabricated traumas. The details of truthful narratives also were more consistent than fabricated narratives over an extended six month interval, although levels of consistency decreased over time for both narrative types. Fabricated symptoms were inflated and also may serve as indicators of possible deception, particularly in assessments of post-traumatic stress disorder. The findings of this dissertation indicate that the Memory Assessment Procedure has utility as a tool for deception detection in truthful and fabricated narratives, demonstrating similar levels of discrimination as established techniques such as Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA) and Reality Monitoring (RM). Further research on MAP criteria and their application to statement analysis is warranted. This research is important for our basic theoretical and scientific understanding of memory and consistency of recall. Further, the current findings provide useful information for identifying possible false allegations. | en_US |
