Australian science prize awarded to researcher studying memory accuracy of domestic violence survivors
Associate Professor Helen Paterson has received a Eureka prize for her research into the memory accuracy of domestic violence survivors. Her work highlights how repeated trauma affects memory recall and how these testimonies are often unfairly perceived as unreliable in legal settings.
Why it matters
This research is critical for reforming judicial processes to ensure that domestic violence survivors are not unfairly discredited due to the nature of their trauma-related memory recall.
Assoc Prof Helen Paterson was awarded a Eureka prize in recognition of her work in advancing how police and courts understand victim-survivor memories and testimony. Photograph: Emlyn Crockett/Australian Museum Assoc Prof Helen Paterson was awarded a Eureka prize in recognition of her work in advancing how police and courts understand victim-survivor memories and testimony. Photograph: Emlyn Crockett/Australian Museum Science Australian science prize awarded to researcher studying memory accuracy of domestic violence survivors Helen Paterson’s work on advancing how police and courts understand memory is recognised in prestigious Eureka prizes
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Prefer the Guardian on Google Memory is an imperfect thing: research shows that recollections of single events – a purse being snatched, say – differ to those about repeated or ongoing events, such as incidents of domestic and family violence.
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