An investigation of developmental reversals phenomenon in DRM paradigm in terms of implicit memory

In this study the developmental reversals phenomenon has been examined with the development processes of conceptual implicit memory and perceptual implicit memory, and the relationship between the conceptual priming and false memory caused by the DRM paradigm was investigated. The sample of this study consisted of child (8 - 9 years), adolescent (15 - 16 years) and adult (35 - 45 years) age groups. The study was conducted with 116 participants in the children's group, 109 in the adolescent group, and 103 in the adult group. DRM paradigm tasks were used to evaluate false memory and measurements were taken with the recognition test. To evaluate implicit memory, the Word Stem Completion Test was used for the perceptual implicit memory measurement and the Category Examplar Generation Test was used for the measurement of conceptual implicit memory. According to the results of the research, age-related change patterns of conceptual implicit memory and false memory showed similarities, indicating that conceptual priming may have a detrimental effect on the occuring of false memory. Adolescents and adults showed more false memory than children, and there was no difference between adolescents and adults. Similarly, while conceptual implicit memory has improved from childhood to adolescence, it has not changed between adolescence and adulthood. Perceptual implicit memory was found to improve from childhood to adolescence and decreased from adolescence to adulthood. Research results are discussed in the context of the literature.