False-Memory Rejection: The Role of the Memorability-Based Strategy

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

False-Memory rejection in Children and Adults: The Role of the Memorability-based Strategy Have you ever witnessed any episode of interpersonal violence? Assuming that you did not, how did you determine that the correct answer to that question is indeed No? You may, perhaps, have decided that you never had that experience, after you conducted a memory search and failed to retrieve any relevant information. It is commonplace, however, to fail to retrieve information from memory, not because of lack of experience, but because of forgetting. Thus, the simple absence of a "positive memory" (i.e., memory of an occurrence) may not provide a sufficient basis for rejection of an event occurrence. An intuitively appealing account is that individuals use the perceived memorability of an event, in conjunction with failure to retrieve any information about that event, to infer the event's nonoccurrence: If you expect to remember witnessing interpersonal violence, yet you cannot retrieve any memory for this event, then you may infer that you have had this experience. In previously NSF-funded research, evidence for the existence of this psychological mechanism was found. This mechanism has been labeled memorability-based strategy (MBS). In the first wave of studies, we began to examine age differences in the ability to rely on the MBS in childhood, and the conditions that promote and challenge the use of the MBS. This research showed that spontaneous use of the MBS is not detected before age 9, and that specific instructions about the MBS only partially helped children younger than 9. Further, results showed that even older children's and adults' use of the MBS may be compromised after individuals deliberately imagine events or knowingly confabulate about false details concerning such events. The current studies build directly on these previous studies to identify favorable conditions under which MBS-training results in enhancement of false-memory rejection. Specifically, the current research is aimed at enhancing the MBS-training effectiveness to induce reliance on the MBS in children who would not spontaneously use it (i.e., 7-year-olds), and strengthen its use in children who can spontaneously implement it (i.e., children aged 9 or older). In addition, we will investigate the role of individual differences (e.g., inference skills, executive function, and self-efficacy) in the ability to use the MBS ability and in that of taking advantage of the training. Two experiments will be conducted to achieve these aims. This research will have important implications for both theory and application. New theoretical knowledge about the conditions under which children and adults use the MBS to avoid false-memory formation will be gained. Although factors influencing false-memory acceptance (and its development) have been studied extensively, the factors responsible for false-memory rejection have received relatively little attention. Yet, such factors may be crucial for individuals' abilities to communicate effectively that events did not happen and provide accurate statements. For theory, an understanding of false-memory rejection is necessary for a comprehensive theory of memory accuracy. For application, findings from the current research will facilitate the development of age-specific forensic procedures that enhance witnesses' abilities to identify false information and gate it out of their reports. The vast literature on child memory and suggestibility has led to the development of useful procedures to enhance children's recollections in forensic settings, but these procedures may not be as successful at helping children identify and reject false events. Presently, no parallel age-specific procedures have been introduced to promote false-memory rejection, which is equally important for the validity of child testimony.