Grant: Discovery Development Grant

We rely heavily on memory to navigate daily tasks. Each time we run errands or try to find our keys, we rely on our memory of prior experiences to execute these tasks efficiently. In some contexts, our ability to recall autobiographical events can have substantive implications for those around us. We must understand how memory is structured in order to be able to predict and enhance memory performance. In this work, there are two primary areas of exploration. The first area of work is focused on better understanding how partially retrieving a memory influences children's subsequent memory reports. When memories are targeted for retrieval, recall is not exhaustive. That is, we typically only retrieve what we consider to be the relevant details from an experience. A well-established phenomenon, called retrieval-induced forgetting, predicts that there are disadvantages to this strategy of retrieving only relevant details. Targeting specific memories for retrieval may result in greater difficulty when subsequently attempting to retrieve related, but non-retrieved memories. Previous research has indicated that, in children, true memories are subject to this effect of partial retrieval, but false memories are not. This research will explore the different phenomenon of true and false memories using this partial-retrieval paradigm. A second area of study will be children's eyewitness identification abilities. Though research on children's face identification has been thriving for decades, there have been few procedural advances aimed specifically at improving children's identification accuracy. For many years, researchers examined children's identification behaviour on lineup tasks that were intended for adults; however, recent evidence makes it clear that children require accommodations in identification procedures. A consistent concern expressed about child eyewitnesses is their tendency to over-choose from lineups. This research will explore the development of a new face identification procedure for children that is specifically designed to reduce their choosing when a target is not present in the lineup. Both areas of research have implications for understanding of how children's memory is represented and the resulting advancement of theory. This work also has applied implications. Increasingly, children are performing as witnesses in the justice system and memory reports are the basis of their testimony. Enhanced understanding of their capabilities and limitations promotes the development of new techniques to assist their involvement in the justice system.