The creation of false memories of school-aged children as a consequence of misinformation
Abstract
Human memory is not as correct and reliable as it might be considered, as it is possible to be manipulated easily. Even a small suggestion could influence the memory, leading to the distortion of original memory or a creation of a new one. Children are more suggestible than adults, so their memories and testimony could be considered less reliable or thrustworthy. In this experiment the influence of misinformation to the memory is examined on the sample of 107 children of school age. During the misinformation procedure the memory have been altered in 45,7 % of cases using misleading suggestive questions. The difference between the experimental and control group in wrong answers to the critical item question was more than 20 %. There was a confidence scale attached to every question. According to the results, even if children are able to remember properly, in situations the suggestive questions are asked in a face-to-face interview, their memories adapt to the new information and become less reliable for further testimony.
(Fulltext in Czech)
Keywords
false memory syndrome, misinformation, sugestibility, changing memories, misleading questionLiterature
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