The impact of testing on the formation of children's and adults' false memories

dc.contributor.authorBrackmann, N., Otgaar, H., Sauerland, M., & Howe, M. L.
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-17T20:11:49Z
dc.date.available2017-07-17T20:11:49Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractWitnesses 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.en_US
dc.identifier.citationBrackmann, N., Otgaar, H., Sauerland, M., & Howe, M. L. (2016). The impact of testing on the formation of children's and adults' false memories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 30(5), 785-794.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5129519/
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/3434
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherApplied Cognitive Psychologyen_US
dc.subjectfalse memoriesen_US
dc.subjectwitnessen_US
dc.subjectresearchen_US
dc.titleThe impact of testing on the formation of children's and adults' false memoriesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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