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

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 discrepa...

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Autores principales: Brackmann, Nathalie, Otgaar, Henry, Sauerland, Melanie, Howe, Mark L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5129519/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27917021
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.3254
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author Brackmann, Nathalie
Otgaar, Henry
Sauerland, Melanie
Howe, Mark L.
author_facet Brackmann, Nathalie
Otgaar, Henry
Sauerland, Melanie
Howe, Mark L.
author_sort Brackmann, Nathalie
collection PubMed
description 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 immediately with meaning or item‐specific questions. Test results on the succeeding day replicated classic misinformation and testing effects, although our processing hypothesis was not supported. Only adults who received meaning questions benefited from immediate testing and, across all ages, testing led to retrieval‐enhanced suggestibility. © 2016 The Authors. Applied Cognitive Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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spelling pubmed-51295192016-11-30 The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories Brackmann, Nathalie Otgaar, Henry Sauerland, Melanie Howe, Mark L. Appl Cogn Psychol Research Articles 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 immediately with meaning or item‐specific questions. Test results on the succeeding day replicated classic misinformation and testing effects, although our processing hypothesis was not supported. Only adults who received meaning questions benefited from immediate testing and, across all ages, testing led to retrieval‐enhanced suggestibility. © 2016 The Authors. Applied Cognitive Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-07-19 2016 /pmc/articles/PMC5129519/ /pubmed/27917021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.3254 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Applied Cognitive Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Brackmann, Nathalie
Otgaar, Henry
Sauerland, Melanie
Howe, Mark L.
The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories
title The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories
title_full The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories
title_fullStr The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories
title_short The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories
title_sort impact of testing on the formation of children's and adults' false memories
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5129519/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27917021
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.3254
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