What children recall about a repeated event when one instance is different from the others.

Abstract

This research examined whether a memorable and unexpected change (deviation details) presented during 1 instance of a repeated event facilitated children's memory for that instance and whether a repeated event facilitated children's memory for deviation details. In Experiments 1 and 2, 8-year-olds (N = 167) watched 1 or 4 live magic shows. Children were interviewed about the last or only show, which did or did not contain deviation details. Children reported more accurate information about the instance when deviation details were presented than when they were not, but repeated experience did not improve memory for deviation details. In Experiment 3, children (N = 145; 6- to 11-year-olds) participated in 4 magic shows and answered questions about each one. Deviation details were manipulated such that they caused a change in how the show was experienced (continuous) or had no such effect on the rest of the show (discrete). Younger, but not older, children's recall of all instances improved when a continuous deviation occurred compared to no deviation. Implications for how deviation details are represented in memory, as well as forensic applications of the findings, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Facilitating recall and particularisation of repeated events in adults using a multi-method interviewing format

“…free recall format), yet recall did not further benefit from the presence of deviations. The current results are inconsistent with previous research, which shows that the presence of deviations facilitates recall for all the witnessed events and for the targeted instance itself (Connolly et al, 2016;MacLean et al, 2018; although see Rubínová et al, 2021). Also, witnessing an instance that deviated from the script did not facilitate source monitoring as participants reported a similar number of internal intrusions in both deviation conditions.…”

Facilitating recall and particularisation of repeated events in adults using a multi-method interviewing format

“…free recall format), yet recall did not further benefit from the presence of deviations. The current results are inconsistent with previous research, which shows that the presence of deviations facilitates recall for all the witnessed events and for the targeted instance itself (Connolly et al, 2016;MacLean et al, 2018; although see Rubínová et al, 2021). Also, witnessing an instance that deviated from the script did not facilitate source monitoring as participants reported a similar number of internal intrusions in both deviation conditions.…”

Breaking script: Deviations and postevent information in adult memory for a repeated event

“…Across time and instances, participants answered more questions correctly if there was a deviation during the third instance than if there was no deviation, t (71) = 2.11, p = .038, d = .50. Consistent with Connolly et al (), we found a general effect of deviation on all instances rather than the targeted effect of deviation on the instance that contained the deviation that we predicted. The means are in Table .…”

“…This explanation is supported by our finding that when “time spent thinking about the event” was controlled for, the promotional effect of the deviation on accuracy was eliminated. The “general” rather than “targeted” effect found with our CD setting is consistent with previous research (e.g., Connolly et al, ). We speculate that the deviation in one instance of the repeated event could have encouraged deeper processing of the variable details in all instances of the repeated event.…”

Breaking script: Deviations and post-event information in adult memory for a repeated event

“…This explanation is supported by our finding that when "time spent thinking about the event" was controlled for, the promotional effect of the deviation on accuracy was eliminated. The "general" rather than "targeted" effect found with our CD setting is consistent with previous research (e.g., Connolly et al, 2016). We speculate that the deviation in one instance of the repeated event could have encouraged deeper processing of the variable details in all instances of the repeated event.…”

“…Consistent with Connolly et al (2016), we found a general effect of deviation on all instances rather than the targeted effect of deviation on the instance that contained the deviation that we predicted. The means are in Table 3.…”

Facilitating recall and particularisation of repeated events in adults using a multi-method interviewing format

“…free recall format), yet recall did not further benefit from the presence of deviations. The current results are inconsistent with previous research, which shows that the presence of deviations facilitates recall for all the witnessed events and for the targeted instance itself (Connolly et al, 2016;MacLean et al, 2018; although see Rubínová et al, 2021). Also, witnessing an instance that deviated from the script did not facilitate source monitoring as participants reported a similar number of internal intrusions in both deviation conditions.…”

Breaking script: Deviations and postevent information in adult memory for a repeated event

“…Across time and instances, participants answered more questions correctly if there was a deviation during the third instance than if there was no deviation, t (71) = 2.11, p = .038, d = .50. Consistent with Connolly et al (), we found a general effect of deviation on all instances rather than the targeted effect of deviation on the instance that contained the deviation that we predicted. The means are in Table .…”

“…This explanation is supported by our finding that when “time spent thinking about the event” was controlled for, the promotional effect of the deviation on accuracy was eliminated. The “general” rather than “targeted” effect found with our CD setting is consistent with previous research (e.g., Connolly et al, ). We speculate that the deviation in one instance of the repeated event could have encouraged deeper processing of the variable details in all instances of the repeated event.…”

Breaking script: Deviations and post-event information in adult memory for a repeated event

“…This explanation is supported by our finding that when "time spent thinking about the event" was controlled for, the promotional effect of the deviation on accuracy was eliminated. The "general" rather than "targeted" effect found with our CD setting is consistent with previous research (e.g., Connolly et al, 2016). We speculate that the deviation in one instance of the repeated event could have encouraged deeper processing of the variable details in all instances of the repeated event.…”

“…Consistent with Connolly et al (2016), we found a general effect of deviation on all instances rather than the targeted effect of deviation on the instance that contained the deviation that we predicted. The means are in Table 3.…”

Facilitating recall and particularisation of repeated events in adults using a multi-method interviewing format

“…free recall format), yet recall did not further benefit from the presence of deviations. The current results are inconsistent with previous research, which shows that the presence of deviations facilitates recall for all the witnessed events and for the targeted instance itself (Connolly et al, 2016;MacLean et al, 2018; although see Rubínová et al, 2021). Also, witnessing an instance that deviated from the script did not facilitate source monitoring as participants reported a similar number of internal intrusions in both deviation conditions.…”

Breaking script: Deviations and postevent information in adult memory for a repeated event

“…Across time and instances, participants answered more questions correctly if there was a deviation during the third instance than if there was no deviation, t (71) = 2.11, p = .038, d = .50. Consistent with Connolly et al (), we found a general effect of deviation on all instances rather than the targeted effect of deviation on the instance that contained the deviation that we predicted. The means are in Table .…”

“…This explanation is supported by our finding that when “time spent thinking about the event” was controlled for, the promotional effect of the deviation on accuracy was eliminated. The “general” rather than “targeted” effect found with our CD setting is consistent with previous research (e.g., Connolly et al, ). We speculate that the deviation in one instance of the repeated event could have encouraged deeper processing of the variable details in all instances of the repeated event.…”

Breaking script: Deviations and post-event information in adult memory for a repeated event

“…This explanation is supported by our finding that when "time spent thinking about the event" was controlled for, the promotional effect of the deviation on accuracy was eliminated. The "general" rather than "targeted" effect found with our CD setting is consistent with previous research (e.g., Connolly et al, 2016). We speculate that the deviation in one instance of the repeated event could have encouraged deeper processing of the variable details in all instances of the repeated event.…”

“…Consistent with Connolly et al (2016), we found a general effect of deviation on all instances rather than the targeted effect of deviation on the instance that contained the deviation that we predicted. The means are in Table 3.…”