PSYC 1100 Week 11 Discussion

PSYC 1100 Week 11 Discussion | Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Peer Learning Discussion Week 11

Memory Enhancement Strategies

Provide examples of how, when, and for which course you used each of the memory enhancement strategies below:

1. Elaborative rehearsal

2. Linking new information to examples and items already in memory

3. Organizing information

4. Overlearning the material

5. Distributing the material over time

6. Minimizing interference

7. Using imagery

OR

How Accurate Are Young Children’s Memories?

There is a controversy surrounding the accuracy of young children’s memories, including concerns of both over-reporting (false reporting) and under-reporting of child abuse cases. In a study on children’s susceptibility to suggestive questioning, Leichtman and Ceci (1995) conducted a study, in which 3- to 6-year-old children were told stories about Sam Stone (who was repeatedly described to one experimental subsample of the children as being clumsy). One day, “Sam” came to the children’s classroom, was introduced, and behaved innocuously. The next day, children were shown a book that had been ripped and a teddy bear that had been soiled—things that Sam clearly had not done when he was present. Over the next ten weeks, children were interviewed several times, and some were asked suggestive questions about Sam, such as whether he tore the book on purpose. Finally, two weeks later, a new interviewer asked all the children to describe Sam’s visit to the classroom. Children who had heard suggestive stories about Sam before or after his appearance (i.e., the treatment group) made more false reports about his behaviour than the control group of children who had not received the suggestive treatment. Answer the following critical thinking questions about this experiment:

1. Does the evidence reported here indicate that the memories of the children who received the suggestive treatment actually changed?

2. Are there other ways of explaining the children’s false reports than assuming they incorrectly remembered what they had seen?

3. What kind of experiments could be devised that would test alternative hypotheses concerning the factors underlying the false reports of the experimental groups of children in the Leichtman and Ceci experiment?