How focus at encoding affects children's source monitoring.
Retention of source information is enhanced by focus on speakers' feelings about statements even though recognition is reduced for both adults and children. However, does any focus on another person lead to enhanced source monitoring, or is a particular kind of focus required? Does other-focus enhance source monitoring, or does self-focus detract from it? In Experiment 1, 4- and 6-year-olds watched two speakers make statements in a no-focus control or with focus directed on how they (or a speaker) felt about the statements or on perceptual features about themselves (or the speaker). Source monitoring decisions were enhanced by other-focus in both the perceptual and emotional conditions. However, the effect was larger for the emotional condition, and source monitoring exceeded no-focus controls only for this condition. Experiment 2 showed no effect of other-focus versus self-focus on source monitoring when questions were semantic.
Crawley
Stacie L
SL
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA. psc600@yahoo.com
Newcombe
Nora S
NS
Bingman
Hannah
H
D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014741:Video Recording