Abstract
In the present study, we used the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm to analyze the relationship between theme identifiability of word lists and false memories in adults and children. We conducted two normative studies to determine the identifiability levels for critical unpresented words in 40 associative lists in adults and in 16 associative lists in children. Then, in three experiments, false memories for critical words that were either easy or hard to identify were analyzed in adults and in children 4–5 years old and 11–12 years old. Opposite results were found for adults and children. Lists with highly identifiable critical words produced fewer false memories for adults but more false memories for children. These results suggest that, if they can identify critical words, adults use an identify-to-reject strategy to edit out false memories, whereas, in children, theme identification does not lead to the use of such a monitoring strategy.
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The first author was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BPD/26729/2006). A.F. was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Projects SEJ2005-03210 and PSI2008-05607, respectively) and by Junta de Castilla y León (Project SA031A-06).
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Carneiro, P., Fernandez, A. & Dias, A.R. The influence of theme identifiability. Memory & Cognition 37, 115–129 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.37.2.115
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.37.2.115