Previous research has suggested that, when interviewing young children, responses to yes/no questions are less reliable than responses to multiple-choice questions (Peterson & Grant, 2001). However, according to fuzzy trace theory, some forms of multiple-choice questions should elicit higher error rates than yes/no questions. Fuzzy trace theory is a theory of cognitive development that suggests there are two types of memory traces: Verbatim traces include exact details of an experience, whereas gist traces represent the patterns and meanings extracted from that experience. Based on the assumptions of this theory, we explored the effect of question format (yes/no vs. multiple-choice), temporal delay (short delay vs. long delay) and age (4-to 6-year-olds, 7-to 9-year-olds, and 10-to 12-year-olds) on children's suggestibility for a naturalistic, potentially stressful event; namely, a dental procedure. Following the dental procedure, and again after a 6-to 8-week delay, children (N ϭ 68) were given 24 forced-choice questions regarding the dental event. Consistent with fuzzy trace theory, the findings suggest that (a) multiple-choice questions can be more problematic than yes/no questions, especially after a delay, and (b) younger children are more suggestible than older children, particularly when asked "no" and "absent feature" questions. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for interviewing children.

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Understanding children's memory for painful experiences may help improve their pain management and coping ability.

Past research has demonstrated that cognitive triage (weak-strong-weak recall pattern) is a robust effect that optimizes children's recall. The aim of the current research was to determine whether adults' free recall also exhibits triage and whether cognitive triage is less marked with older than younger adults' recall. Younger and older adults memorized 16 unrelated words until all items were recalled perfectly. The triage pattern existed for both of the younger and older adults' recall and there was evidence for age differences in triage. Our results are consistent with claims of greater verbatim forgetting and increased susceptibility to output interference with age in adulthood. Further research is needed to determine whether fuzzy-trace theory adequately explains the aging of triage and what factors play a role in the development of this pattern of recall in adulthood. Keywords: Cognitive triage, Adult memory development, Free recall Invariance of Cognitive Triage in the Development of Recall in AdulthoodIn most examinations of memory development, free-recall is the paradigm of choice, which is not that surprising given that this is the most common method of tapping everyday memory. A number of earlier theories (one-process accounts of recall) such as Marbe's Law (e.g., Marbe, 1901, cited in Brainerd, Reyna, & Howe, 1990 as well as contemporary theories like the association network models (e.g., Anderson & Bower, 1973), the resource hypotheses (e.g., Bjorklund & Muir, 1988), and relative strength models (e.g., Raaijmakers & Shiffrin, 1981;Wixted, Ghadisha, & Vera, 1997), predict that during free recall, stronger items will present themselves to consciousness before weaker items, and therefore, will be reported in that order. However, in studies with children and young adults, Brainerd and his colleagues (for a review, see Brainerd & Reyna, 2001) did not obtain the stronger-weaker sequence of recall but rather found a weaker-stronger-weaker order, which has been labelled the cognitive triage effect because of its similarity to the well-known medical procedure of treating the most difficult cases first.Because the majority of research on cognitive triage has been performed with children, where findings indicate that triage optimizes recall (e.g., Brainerd et al., 1990), it is of great theoretical and practical importance to replicate this effect with young adults and determine whether this effect exists in older adults' recall. The aim of the present study, then, is to extend our understanding of cognitive triage by investigating the relationship between recall order and memory strength during the latter portion of the life span (i.e., from younger to older adulthood) and to determine whether this relationship varies across age. The theoretical foundation for cognitive triage, fuzzy-trace theory (FTT), is reviewed below and is followed by a description of possible developmental differences in triage during adulthood. An experiment, the first of its kind in the literature, is then described, one that ...

Video- versus handout-based instructions may influence student outcomes during simulation training and competency-based assessments. Forty-five third-year veterinary students voluntarily participated in a simulation module on canine endotracheal intubation. A prospective, randomized, double-blinded study investigated the impact of video ( n = 23) versus handout ( n = 22) instructions on student confidence, anxiety, and task performance. Students self-scored their confidence and anxiety before and after the simulation. During the simulation laboratory, three raters independently evaluated student performance using a 20-item formal assessment tool with a 5-point global rating scale. No significant between- or within-group differences ( p > .05) were found for both confidence and anxiety scores. Video-based instructions were associated with significantly higher ( p < .05) total formal assessment scores compared with handout-based instructions. The video group had significantly higher scores than the handout group on 3 of the 20 individual skills (items) assessed: placement of tie to the adaptor–endotracheal tube complex ( p < .05), using the anesthetic machine ( p < .01), and pop-off valve management ( p < .001). Inter-rater reliability as assessed by Cronbach’s α (.92), and Kendall’s W (.89) was excellent and almost perfect, respectively. A two-faceted crossed-design generalizability analysis yielded G coefficients for both the handout ( Ep2 = .68) and the video ( Ep2 = .72) groups. Video instructions may be associated with higher performance scores than handout instructions during endotracheal intubation simulation training. Further research into skill retention and learning styles is warranted.