Abstract
Experiment 1 examined the effects of three delay intervals (0, 24, and 48 h) on recognition memory performance of 5-, 8-, and 11-year-olds and adults using a forced-choice procedure. Results revealed significant drops in performance after 24 h for 5-year-olds and after 48 h for 8-year-olds, with no performance decrement for older age groups. However, observations made during the first experiment raised the possibility that performance in the forced-choice procedure may have been biased, since subjects could infer which item was presented previously from high confidence that the new item had never been presented. Since age differences in use of this inferential process may have exaggerated the performance differences observed with the forced-choice procedure, Experiment 2 employed a single-item yes-no testing procedure to assess age and delay effects on recognition memory. Performance increased with age and decreased with delay, but no differential performance decrement occurred across delay as a function of age. Together, results confirmed earlier studies in demonstrating age invariance in information loss across time.
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This research was supported by U.S. Public Health Grant HD02680 to Marshall Haith and by Research Scientist Development Award MH 00226-01 to Frederick J. Morrison.
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Morrison, F.J., Haith, M.M. & Kagan, J. Age trends in recognition memory for pictures: The effects of delay and testing procedure. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 16, 480–483 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329605
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329605