Can I Trust Your Memory? Investigating interpersonal memory judgments and their social outcomes in children

When listening to others’ autobiographical memories, adults frequently engage in interpersonal memory monitoring, a cognitive process that allows us to evaluate whether others’ memories are accurate and faithful. In adults, these judgments – that appear to rely on cues such as the episodic richness and emotional valence of the narratives – have recently been suggested to influence our willingness to interact with the narrator. To date, however, no data have examined these processes and their social outcomes in children. To address this gap, 95 French-speaking children aged between 4 and 8 years and 11 months (49 girls) were recruited and asked to listen to 6 narratives framed as other children’s memories. These narratives varied in episodic richness (detailed vs. undetailed) and emotional valence (positive vs. neutral). After each narrative, children were asked to evaluate these memories in terms of belief in occurrence, faithfulness, and credibility before reporting their willingness to interact with the narrator. Mixed-effects linear models revealed a significant effect of emotional valence with positive narratives being judged as more faithful than neutral ones. Age also significantly influenced belief in occurrence, with older children being more likely to judge narratives has having really occurred. Finally, interpersonal memory judgments were positively associated with willingness to interact, with an increase of this effect as children grow older. Overall, these results suggest that children engage in a cognitive evaluation when listening to others’ memories, and that these judgments influence future social outcomes.