The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories.

ABSTRACT: Witnesses are frequently questioned immediately following a crime. The effects of such testing on false recall are inconclusive: Testing may inoculate against subsequent misinformation or enhance false memory formation. We examined whether different types of processing can account for these discrepancies. Drawing from Fuzzy-trace and Associative-activation theories, immediate questions that trigger the processing of the global understanding of the event can heighten false memory rates. However, questions that trigger the processing of specific details can inoculate memories against subsequent misinformation. These effects were hypothesized to be more pronounced in children than in adults. Seven/eight-, 11/12-, 14/15-year-olds, and adults (N = 220) saw a mock-theft film and were tested imme

SUBMITTER: Brackmann N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5129519 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature