THE EFFECT OF MEMORY TRACE STRENGTH ON SUGGESTIBILITY

This experiment tests the memory trace strength theory of suggestibility, that stronger memories are more resistant to suggestibility than weaker memories, with strength of memory manipulated by means of frequency of presentation of target items. Four- and 10-year-old children viewed a slide sequence in which four target slides were presented one or two times each. In a postevent narrative, participants were misled about two target items, and two target items served as controls. In a subsequent recognition memory test, the hypothesis was confirmed. The d' difference between control and misled items was greater for frequency one than for frequency two; stronger memories (items viewed twice) were more resistant to suggestibility than weaker memories (items viewed once). This pattern was consistent for both 4- and 10-year-old children, indicating that similar cognitive processes underlie suggestibility at each age. These results suggest that if children's memory is tested for an event that occurred to them frequently, they would be expected to have more accurate memory for this event and be less vulnerable to suggestive influences such as biased interviewing procedures than they would for an event that occurred only a single time. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.