Veridical and false memories of children aged 6 to 15 years were studied in two experiments with the retrieval-induced forgetting paradigm. Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false memory word lists, children's reports of true, but not false, memories showed evidence of retrieval-induced forgetting. These differences were observed across delays as long as 2 days following word list presentation. The lack of observation of retrieval-induced forgetting in children's false memories provides evidence that a key assumption in the theory of retrieval-induced forgetting, cue independence, might not consistently apply. These experiments underscore the need for both practical and theoretically motivated study of true and false memories.
Keywords: Children; Cue-dependence; DRM paradigm; Delay; False memories; Retrieval-induced forgetting.
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