Are children's memory illusions created differently from those of adults? Evidence from levels-of-processing and divided attention paradigms
Wimmer, M. C. & Howe, M. L. (2010). Are children's memory illusions created differently from those of adults? Evidence from levels-of-processing and divided attention paradigms. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 107(1), pp. 31-49. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2010.03.003
Abstract
In two experiments we investigated the robustness and automaticity of adults’ and children’s generation of false memories by using a levels-of-processing paradigm (Experiment 1) and a divided-attention paradigm (Experiment 2). The first experiment revealed that when information was encoded at a shallow level, true recognition rates decreased for all ages. For false recognition, when information was encoded on a shallow level we found a different pattern for young children compared to older children and adults. Seven-year-olds’ false recognition rates were related to the overall amount correctly remembered information whereas no such association was found for the other age groups. In the second experiment divided attention decreased true recognition for all ages. In contrast, children’s (7- and 11-year-olds) false recognition rates were again dependent on the overall amount correctly remembered whereas adults’ false recognition was left unaffected. Overall, children’s false recognition rates changed when levels-of-processing or divided-attention was manipulated in comparison to adults. Together these results suggest that there may be both quantitative and qualitative changes in false memory rates with age.
| Publication Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in <Journal title>. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Volume 107, Issue 1, September 2010, Pages 31–49, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2010.03.003 |
| Publisher Keywords: | False memories, Memory development, Automaticity, Levels of processing, Divided attention, DRM paradigm |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| Departments: | School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Psychology |
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