The Impact of Testing on the Formation of Children's and Adults' False Memories

Witnesses are frequently questioned immediately following a crime. The effects of such testing on false recall are inconclusive: Testing may inoculate against subsequent misinformation or enhance false memory formation. We examined whether different types of processing can account for these discrepancies. Drawing from Fuzzy-trace and Associative-activation theories, immediate questions that trigger the processing of the global understanding of the event can heighten false memory rates. However, questions that trigger the processing of specific details can inoculate memories against subsequent misinformation. These effects were hypothesized to be more pronounced in children than in adults. Seven/eight-, 11/12-, 14/15-year-olds, and adults (N = 220) saw a mock-theft film and were tested immediately with meaning or item-specific questions. Test results on the succeeding day replicated classic misinformation and testing effects, although our processing hypothesis was not supported. Only adults who received meaning questions benefited from immediate testing and, across all ages, testing led to retrieval-enhanced suggestibility

The Malleability of Developmental Trends in Neutral and Negative Memory Illusions

Among many legal professionals and memory researchers there exists the assumption that susceptibility to false memory decreases with age. In four misinformation experiments, we show that under conditions that focus on the meaning of experiences, children are not always the most susceptible to suggestion-induced false memories. We begin by presenting a short overview of previous developmental false memory studies, the majority of which have found that the susceptibility to misinformation decreases with age. In Experiment 1, 6/7-year-olds, 11/12-year-olds, and adults received a video and were confronted with misinformation about related but non-presented details. Older children and adults had higher misinformation acceptance rates than younger children. In Experiment 2, we replicated this finding adding a younger child group (4/6-year-olds). In Experiments 3 and 4, we used new material and again found that susceptibility to misinformation increased with age. Together, these experiments show that children’s memory accuracy is not necessarily inferior to that of adults’

Eliminating Age Differences in Children’s and Adults’ Suggestibility and Memory Conformity Effects

We examined whether typical developmental trends in suggestion-induced false memories (i.e., age-related decrease) could be changed. Using theoretical principles from the spontaneous false memory field, we adapted two often-used false memory procedures: misinformation (Experiment 1) and memory conformity (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 7/9-year old children (n = 33) and adults (n = 39) received stories containing associatively-related details. They then listened to misinformation in the form of short narrative preserving the meaning of the story. Children and adults were equally susceptible to the misinformation effect. In Experiment 2, younger (7/8-yearolds, n = 30) and older (11/12-year-olds, n = 30) children and adults (n = 30) viewed pictures containing associatively-related details. They viewed these pictures in pairs. Although the pictures differed, participants believed they had viewed the same pictures. Participants had to report what they could recollect during collaborative and individual recall tests. Children and adults were equally susceptible to memory conformity effects. When correcting for response bias, adults’ false memory scores were even higher than children’s. Our results show that age trends in suggestion-induced false memories are not developmentally invariant

Effects of synthesis parameters on the properties and photocatalytic activity of the magnetic catalyst TiO2/CoFe2O4 applied to selenium photoreduction

intake to human health. Heterogeneous photocatalysis can be successfully applied to remove selenium ions from water, but the photocatalyst recovery in the end of the process still needs improvement. The application of a magnetic photocatalyst (TiO2/CoFe2O4) in the Se(IV) photoreduction was investigated, with emphasis in the catalyst magnetic separation. The photocatalyst was synthetized via a simple sol-gel method and a central composite design was considered to evaluate the effects of titanium isopropoxide mass ratio used in the synthesis, calcination temperature and pH on Se(IV) reduction. Calcination temperature showed a strong influence in the photocatalytic activity, and the catalyst calcined at 381 ◦C presented the best performance. In the bests test, at pH 2.61, it was possible to remove >99% selenium after 2 min of exposure to radiation. Photocatalysts containing great amounts of rutile phase produced the lowest removal results. The TiO2/CoFe2O4 photocatalyst was magnetically separable, however its saturation magnetization (2.7 emu g 1) was considerably smaller than pure CoFe2O4 (84.6 emu g 1) and the photocatalyst magnetic separation from the aqueous medium was about 11 times slower in comparison to pure cobalt ferrite. The synthetized photocatalyst was able to satisfactorily photoreduce Se(IV) (96.5%) even after five cycles of photocatalysis

Dealing with False Memories in Children and Adults: Recommendations for the Legal Arena

Children are often viewed as poor eyewitnesses. Fact-finders, lawyers, and researchers assume that children are exceptionally prone to accept external suggestive (leading) questions and to create false memories. Is this assumption justified? This review will show it is not. First, studies on spontaneous false memories— elicited without any suggestive pressure—reveal that children are less likely than adults to produce them. Second, under certain circumstances, children are even less prone to accept external suggestions than adults. This counterintuitive finding happens when false suggestions contain information that is associatively related but in actuality not experienced by children or adults. Using empirically-based interview protocols can maximize the retrieval of accurate memories in children and adults. Furthermore, expert witnesses should use alternative scenarios in order to better evaluate whether statements by children or adults are based on truth or fiction

Qualidade de maçãs 'Royal Gala' submetidas ao dano mecânico por impacto e aplicação de 1-Metilciclopropeno em dois sistemas comerciais de armazenamento.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos do dano mecânico por impacto e da aplicação de 1-metilciclopropeno (1-MCP) sobre a qualidade de maçãs ?Royal Gala? mantidas em armazenamento refrigerado (AR) e em atmosfera controlada (AC). Os tratamentos avaliados foram dano mecânico (sem e com dano por impacto) combinado com a aplicação de 1-MCP (0 e 625 nL L-1). Os frutos foram armazenados durante quatro meses em armazenamento refrigerado (AR; 0 ºC ± 1 ºC e 92 ± 2 % de UR) (experimento 1) e durante oito meses em atmosfera controlada (AC; 1,2 kPa de O2 + 2,0 kPa de CO2; 0 ºC ± 0,1 ºC e 96 ± 2 % de UR) (experimento 2). Em AR, os frutos tratados com 1-MCP apresentaram maior firmeza de polpa, além de maior área escurecida no local danificado, na saída da câmara. Nesta condição de armazenamento, após sete dias em condição ambiente, os frutos tratados com 1-MCP apresentaram acidez titulável mais elevada, maior escurecimento da epiderme e menor profundidade de escurecimento da polpa no local danificado. Em AC, a aplicação do 1-MCP proporcionou, após a saída da câmara, frutos com menor teor de sólidos solúveis e maior escurecimento da epiderme no local danificado, sendo que, após sete dias em condição ambiente, os frutos apresentaram maior profundidade de escurecimento do tecido da polpa no local danificado. O dano por impacto ocasionou escurecimento da polpa de maçãs ?Royal Gala?. O 1-MCP não inibiu os efeitos do dano, mas preservou a qualidade dos frutos, especialmente em AR