Research Article False Memories in Children Evidence for a Shift From Phonological to Semantic Associations

ABSTRACT—Memory illusions in children of three age groups (5-, 8-, and 11-year-olds) were investigated using a modified version of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure. Children from each age group falsely recalled nonpresented items related to the study lists. However, the nature of the intrusions varied across the different groups. The 5-year-olds were more likely to falsely recall words that rhymed with the studied items than to recall unrelated items, whereas the 11-year-olds were more likely to falsely recall words that were seman-tically related to the list theme than to produce either rhyming or unrelated intrusions. Intrusionsmade by the 8-year-olds were equally likely to be semantic, rhyming, or unrelated to study items. The results are consistent with the notion of a developmental shift from phonological t