DEVELOPMENT OF GIST VERSUS VERBATIM MEMORY IN SENTENCE RECOGNITION - EFFECTS OF LEXICAL FAMILIARITY, SEMANTIC CONTENT, ENCODING INSTRUCTIONS, AND RETENTION INTERVAL

Fuzzy-trace theory is used to explore children's memory and comprehens ion of sentences describing spatial or linear relationships. Recogniti on tests were given immediately and after a week's delay, and test sen tences' truth, wording (original or novel), and premise-inference stat us were varied. When children were instructed to recognize only verbat im sentences (Experiment 1), premise recognition (memory) was independ ent of systematic misrecognition of true inferences (reasoning), and e xperimental manipulations (delay; spatial vs. linear stimuli) drove me mory and reasoning in opposite directions. Therefore, verbatim memorie s were not semantically integrated with gist, such as inferences. When children were specifically instructed to process gist (Experiment 2), however, memory and reasoning were positively dependent. Results are discussed from the perspectives of constructivism, theories of suggest ibility, and fuzzy-trace theory.