Discovering Memories of Abuse in the Light of Meta-Awareness
Journal of Aggression Maltreatment & Trauma June 12, 2001 Jonathan W. Schooler 98 citations
Discovered (recovered) memories of childhood abuse are often met with skepticism because of limited corroborated evidence and a lack of explanatory theory. This article reviews seven corroborated cases of discovered memories and explains them through a theory of meta-awareness, which distinguishes between experiential consciousness (the raw experience) and meta-awareness (conscious awareness of that experience). Discovered memories can involve gaining a new meta-awareness of an experience's meaning, regaining a previously avoided meta-awareness, or acquiring a meta-awareness that never existed. Factors such as age, stress, lack of discussion, dissociation, and nocturnal cognitive processing may prevent abuse from being encoded with meta-awareness. Such non-reflected memories may remain inaccessible until a specific retrieval cue triggers recall, fundamentally altering the individual's view of their personal history.