How do omission and commission errors of trait memory distrust relate to immediate and delayed suggestibility as measured by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale?

The main purpose of the current study was to test the hypothesis that immediate and delayed suggestibility, measured by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 2), are more strongly associated with perceived susceptibility to commission errors in memory distrust than omission errors. There were 229 community participants, who had completed the GSS 2, and Memory Distrust Scale (MDS) and the Squire Subjective Memory Questionnaire (SSMQ). The MDS and the SSMQ measure people’s beliefs about their susceptibility to memory errors of commission and omission, respectively. There were several important findings. The main finding in common across the MDS and SSMQ was a significant negative relationship between GSS 2 memory recall and trait memory distrust. This was a robust finding and suggests that both commission and commission memory trust are associated with poorer objective memory recall. In contrast, only the MDS score was significantly correlated with GSS 2 confabulation, Yield 1, Yield 2, ‘direct explanation’ explanation resistant behavioural responses, and delayed suggestibility at 1 week follow-up. In contrast GSS 2 Shift correlated significantly with the SSMQ score but not the MDS score. The main implications of the findings are that commission errors, as measured by the MDS, are more associated with both immediate and delayed suggestibility than omission errors, and Shift with omission errors.