The Examination of Fixed and Multi-Tier Source Monitoring Training with Children

The current research consists of two studies examining children’s source monitoring training. As previous research (e.g., Thierry & Spence, 2002; Poole & Lindsay, 2002) on source monitoring training is somewhat inconsistent, this research examined two different types of source training with 3–8 year old children. In Study 1, 131 children across two age ranges (3–4 and 7–8 years) were given comparable source training to that completed by Thierry and Spence (2002). General results indicated that the training benefited 7–8 year olds at two delay times, but only benefited younger children that met the established criterion in training. In Study 2, 136 children across 3 age ranges (3–4, 5–6, and 7–8 years) were given a newly developed multi-tier source monitoring training procedure. This training procedure was intended to scaffold ability and provide more individualized training to participants. General results showed no clear differences between training and no-training groups. However, when the results of Study 2 were compared to the results of Study 1, some evidence suggests that this training procedure may have inadvertently trained all older children in Study 2, thus washing out differences between training and non-training groups. Results are discussed in relation to the source monitoring framework, and forensic interviewing