Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2019 Jan;177:222-239. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.08.004. Epub 2018 Sep 21.
Children's own memory is not the only reliable source of information about past events. Others may possess relevant knowledge, and children must learn to appropriately consider it in combination with their own memories. In the current study, we investigated 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds' (N = 72) ability to incorporate probabilistically reliable (70% accurate) hints into their memory decisions. Results revealed that children across ages were appropriately sensitive to these cues without following them blindly and indiscriminately. Furthermore, individual differences in metamemory monitoring predicted overall accuracy improvements after receiving cues in 9-year-olds but not in 5- and 7-year-olds, revealing a developmental role of metamemory for discerning when cues are most informative or needed. Although 5-year-olds increased overall confidence in their memory after receiving invalid cues, they still preserved the capacity to monitor their memory in the face of inaccurate information. Overall, children were sensitive to reliable recommendations, but developing metacognitive mechanisms predicted judicious benefits from cues.
儿童自身的记忆并非是有关过去事件信息的唯一可靠来源。其他人可能拥有相关的知识，而儿童必须学会将其与自身记忆适当地结合起来进行考虑。在当前的研究中，我们调查了 5 岁、7 岁和 9 岁儿童（N=72）将概率上可靠的（70%准确）提示信息纳入其记忆决策的能力。结果表明，不同年龄段的儿童能够适当地对这些提示信息做出反应，而不是盲目和不加区分地遵循它们。此外，元记忆监测方面的个体差异预测了 9 岁儿童在接收到提示信息后的整体准确性提高，而在 5 岁和 7 岁儿童中则没有预测到，这表明元记忆在辨别提示信息何时最具信息量或最需要时具有发展作用。尽管 5 岁儿童在接收到无效提示信息后会增加对记忆的整体信心，但他们仍然能够在面对不准确信息时监控自己的记忆。总体而言，儿童对可靠的建议较为敏感，但发展中的元认知机制预测了他们能够明智地从提示信息中获益。
