Editing Suggestibility (section)

=== Extreme events ===
In extreme events such as [[sexual abuse]], extreme anxiety or mistreatment, children can in fact be greatly subjected to suggestibility. It is possible that a child may recall something that didn't actually happen<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Milchman MS | title = Does psychotherapy recover or invent child sexual abuse memories? A case history | journal = Journal of Child Sexual Abuse | volume = 17 | issue = 1 | pages = 20–37 | date = April 2008 | pmid = 19842316 | doi = 10.1080/10538710701884375 | s2cid = 38273975 }}</ref> or they are so traumatized that they do not want to think about what actually happened.

Little research has been carried out into the effects of anxious mood at the time of either the encoding of misleading post‐event information or the time of its possible retrieval, on subsequent suggestibility. Memory accuracy for non‐suggestible items was unaffected by the anxious mood induction. With respect to suggestibility, there was a strong effect of misleading information.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Ridley AM, Clifford BR | s2cid = 143773311 | date = March 2004 |title=The effects of anxious mood induction on suggestibility to misleading post-event information|journal=Applied Cognitive Psychology|language=en|volume=18|issue=2|pages=233–244|doi=10.1002/acp.963|issn=0888-4080}}</ref> This is just one example of how a highly emotional situation such as an anxiety attack can create suggestibility misconception.

Another example of research is that memory, suggestibility, stress arousal, and trauma-related psychopathology were examined in 328 3- to 16-year-olds involved in forensic investigations of abuse and neglect. Children's memory and suggestibility were assessed for a medical examination and venipuncture. Being older and scoring higher in cognitive functioning were related to fewer inaccuracies. In addition, cortisol level and trauma symptoms in children who reported more dissociative tendencies were associated with increased memory error.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Eisen ML, Goodman GS, Qin J, Davis S, Crayton J | s2cid = 20161355 | title = Maltreated children's memory: accuracy, suggestibility, and psychopathology | journal = Developmental Psychology | volume = 43 | issue = 6 | pages = 1275–94 | date = November 2007 | pmid = 18020811 | doi = 10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1275 }}</ref> This again proves how a stressful or traumatic experience in young children can be affected by suggestibility.