When and how memories return: lay beliefs about sudden vs. gradual memory recovery inside and outside therapy

The circumstances surrounding memory retrieval can inform the risk of distortion, particularly when retrieval is effortful or suggestive. In a preregistered study (osf.io/zec3j), we examined whether therapeutic context (therapy vs. no therapy) and recovery pattern (gradual vs. sudden) influenced lay judgments of recovered memories in a nationally representative U.S. sample (N = 475). Neither therapeutic context nor recovery pattern produced statistically significant differences in judgments, and estimated effects were small; equivalence was established for only two of eight effects. Repression beliefs were widespread, with women showing somewhat higher endorsement across outcomes. Repressed memory beliefs were also positively associated with New Age orientation and conspiracy mentality, although these associations were modest. Overall, we found little evidence that these broad features of recovery context influenced lay judgments. The findings have implications for evaluating recovered memory claims in clinical, legal, and everyday settings.