False Memory Expert Witnesses

Brooklyn, New York

Psychology, Forensic Psychology - Memory, Eyewitness Testimony, Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience, Learning, Decision Making, Habits, Behavioral Science, Episodic Memory, False Memory, Memory Reconstruction, Memory Bias, Misinformation Effect, Memory Confidence, Source Misattribution, Jury Misconceptions

Dr. Braun is a Cognitive Neuroscientist specializing in memory, learning, and decision making. She provides expert witness testimony on the complexities of eyewitness testimony, including issues related to false memories, the misattribution effect, memory reconstruction, and the inherent susceptibility of normal memory recall to error. Dr. Braun earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University and has published in leading scientific journals such as Nature Neuroscience and Nature Communications. Her dissertation focused on the retroactive modulation of memory, exploring how memories are altered by subsequent events. Extensive research has demonstrated that when an episode is recalled, the memory is not replayed perfectly like a video recording. Instead, the brain reconstructs the memory each time it is remembered, utilizing associative processes. This reconstruction renders memory, and consequently eyewitness testimony, vulnerable to errors and biases. Despite compelling sc...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry - Psychological Injury and Disability from Post-traumatic Stress (PTSD), Dissociative Identity, Dissociative Amnesia, Depersonalization, Derealization, Factitious, Personality Disorders (BPD), Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Sexual Offenders, Paraphilias, Hypnosis, Malingering, False Memory

I am a board-certified psychiatrist and member of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law (APPL). In addition to my clinical practice, I am contracted to provide Pennsylvania’s Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) with criminal forensic evaluations. I have submitted expert opinions related to trial competency and criminal responsibility in over 100 cases, a few of which involved courtroom testimony. Building on my experiences at deposition and trial, I have refined my testifying skills through the completion of specialized training for medical expert witnesses. As an expert witness, I provide evidence-based independent medical-psychiatric examinations (IMEs), opinions, and testimony on a range of civil issues, including disability, violence risk assessment, and psychological injury. My particular expertise is in the evaluation of sexual violence, both in offenders and victims, which includes issues such as rape, molestation, child pornography, incest, adu...