Priming and false memories from Deese-Roediger-McDermott lists on a fragment completion test with children

This study examined priming and false memories with children on a word fragment completion task using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Forty-five 4th- and 5th-grade children were shown lists of words and instructed to fill in fragments with the first word that came to mind (implicit instructions) or with the words that were presented during study (explicit instructions). Reliable priming to critical lure words was found under implicit retrieval instructions, and false memory to critical lure words was found under explicit retrieval instructions. However, priming under implicit retrieval instructions did not depend on whether the critical lure word was in the study list. In addition, greater false memory was observed under explicit test instructions. The results replicate and extend research on DRM false memory illusion with children to include implicit retrieval and word fragment completion. Explanations of false memory including gist failure (Brainerd, Reyna, & Forrest, 2002) and implicit associative response (Underwood, 1965) are considered.