Too Much Familiarity! The Developmental Path of the Fluency Heuristic in Children

[en] We tested whether changes in attribution processes could account for the developmental differences observed in how children’s use fluency to guide their memory decisions. Children ranging in age from 4 to 9 years studied a list of familiar or unfamiliar cartoon characters. In Experiment 1 (n=84), participants completed a recognition test during which the perceptual fluency of some items was enhanced using a prime. In Experiment 2 (n=96), participants completed a source recollection judgment on their recognition decisions. Primed items were recognized at a higher rate than unprimed items. However, while young children rely on fluency for all items, older children use fluency only for unfamiliar items. This pattern came together with a reduction in familiarity-based —but not recollection-based— memory responses.

Disciplines :

Theoretical & cognitive psychology

Author, co-author :

Geurten, Marie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Neuropsychologie

Willems, Sylvie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Clinique psychologique et logopédique universitaire (CPLU)

Loyd, Marianne

Language :

English

Title :

Too Much Familiarity! The Developmental Path of the Fluency Heuristic in Children

Publication date :

2021

Journal title :

Child Development

ISSN :

0009-3920

eISSN :

1467-8624

Publisher :

Blackwell, Oxford, United Kingdom

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

919-936

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 02 July 2021

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