Accuracy of child event frequency reports

• Other Authors: Dirghangi, Shrija R. (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Florida Atlantic University
• Subjects: Cognition in adolescence; Cognition in children; Memory > Age factors; Memory in adolescence; Memory in children; Metacognition
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004190; http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004190

The current study assessed whether the accuracy of children’s self-reports of events experienced differs as a function of age and how the question is asked. Additional factors like metamemory and distractibility were assessed. Primary-school students (M= 7.7 years) and middle-school students (M = 9.7 years) completed two different versions of an event frequency measure, two times, at one week intervals. In one of the measures of event frequency, no memory prompts were provided (uncued questionnaire condition), while in the other measure, recall categories for aiding recollections were provided (cued questionnaire condition). Participants’ self-reported event frequencies for the cued and uncued questionnaires were compared with trained observers’ event frequencies for the cued and uncued conditions. Older children reported event frequency more accurately than younger participants. Participants also reported events with greater accuracy with the aid of memory prompts than without, an effect that was especially strong among the younger children. Neither metamemory nor distractibility was accountable for the differences within age groups. The findings suggest that age-related improvements in accuracy of event frequency across the transition into adolescence may, in part, be due to improvements in the ability to recall and recount those events in the absence of memory cues. === Includes bibliography. === Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. === FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection