| Memories can be categorized into veridical memories and false memories according to the accuracy degree of them. Veridical memories refer the recall or recognition of the events actually happened correctly, whereas false memories refer that people remember events from their past that never occurred. The false memory research of Chinese language cognition mainly focuses on Chinese characters, which have found that both phonological and orthographic associations can result in false memory. In Children’s Chinese language cognition, such researches need to be explored deeply as the relationship between age and false memories, how the semantic association affects false memory of Chinese characters, and what the characteristics and mechanism of false memory are on Chinese vocabularies and sentences in children.Based on the statement above, this experimental study explored the false memory phenomenon of Chinese characters, vocabularies and sentences in Junior-Two, Primary-Five and Senior-Two students. Three series of experiments were included:false memory research for Chinese characters in children, which were Experiments1and2; false memory research for Chinese vocabularies in children, which were Experiments3,4and5; and false memory research for Chinese sentences in children, which were Experiments6and7. The findings were as follows:(1) In Experiment1, in the context of lianmian Chinese words (one word including two Chinese characters), results showed that:first, there were significant differences of the right recognition rates of learned word for different grades, and Senior-Two students were better than Junior-Two and Primary-Five studeents. Second, First character triggered false recognition of the last one in a lianmian-word and vice versa; however, First-character effects were greater than Last-character ones while there were no differences of the false recognition rates of lure for different grades. Third, false memories for Chinese characters emerged under the condition of same-radical-part&same-structure and the condition of alliteration&same-radical-part&same-structure of Chinese characters in three grades whereas no false memories for the condition of same-vowel-formation&same-radical-part&same-structure in Junior Two and Primary Five studeents. Senior-Two students took more time to distinguish lure and unlearned-word from learned word.(2) In Experiment2, under the background of Chinese vocabularies (one vocabulary including two Chinese characters), results show that: first, there were significant differences of the right recognition rates of learned word for different grades, and Senior-Two students were better than Junior-Two and Primary-Five studeents. Second, Senior-Two and Primary-Five studeents had false memory phenomenon on easy-mixed Chinese characters at the same-syllable&same-phonetic condition, however, Junior-Two participants had no false memory under all experiment conditions; false recognition for the lures were more in Senior-Two students than in Junior-Two and Primary-Five studeents. Third, the findings suggested that the semantic relative backgrounds of Chinese vocabulary had weakened or depressed the false memories of easy-mixed Chinese characters.(3) In Experiment3, the results were:First, veridical memories became better and better as children grew up, meanwhile, the more ages became, the less the false recognitive rates for unlearned word were. Second, the same-characters&synonymy of Chinese word condition produced false recognition for lures of Chinese adjectives in all three of the grades, while false recognition only happened in Senior-Two children in the different-characters&synonymy or the antonymy-association of Chinese word condition. Third, Senior-Two students had bias in memories for negative Chinese adjectives than positive ones.(4) In Experiment4, under the condition of double-synonym of Chinese adjectives, the results were:first, veridical memories became better and better as children grew up while the false memories changed in the way of inversed-U shape for the three grades, and false memory rate were at its maximum and equaled the correct recognition rates of learned words in Junior-Two children. Second, Junior-Two students had bias in memories for positive Chinese adjectives, however, the bias turned into negative in Senior-Two students.(5) In Experiment5, under the conditions of Chinese adjective sentences, first, Senior-Two students had less false recognitive rates for unlearned words than Junior-Two and Primary-Five studeents. Second, false recognition for lures of Chinese adjectives were produced in all three of the grades while the rate for Senior-Two students was the least. Third, the study of sentence backgrounds had depressing bias of negative Chinese adjectives in veridical memory and false memory.(6) In Experiment6, the experiment about Chinese "Ba" sentences and "Bei" sentences, the results showed that:first, veridical memories developed with the children’s development, and Senior-Two students were better than Junior-Two and Primary-Five studeents. Second, all three of the grade had false memory to lure sentences with no significant differences in the three grades while false memory rates equaled the correct recognition rates of learned words in Junior-Two children. Third, There existed false memories under both "Ba" sentence condition and "Bei: sentence condition. The veridical memory and false memory on "Ba" sentences were more than "Bei" sentences.(7) In Experiment7, in the context of textual conditions, the results were:first, all three grades resulted in false memory on Chinese sentences. Second, the false memory of highly-related lure sentences were more than that of low-related ones, and the false recognition rates of highly-related lure sentences reached the level of true recognition rate of sentences learned for all three. Third, with the children developed, the false recognitons for lowly-related lure sentences developed.Based on the these three series of experiments, the research came to the following conclusions:(1) In Chinese language cognition, false memories are universal and obstinate as in English language cognition.(2) The phonetical and pattern process of Chinese character are based on perception, so the false memories triggered by them are weak; and the false memory could be inhibited by the semantic relative context. However, the increasing items and semantic relative context could facilitate false memories for the memories which are based on concepts.(3)16-year-old children has negative bias in false memories for Chinese vocabularies.(4) There existed false memories in the way of inversed-U shape with the children’s development for Chinese language cognition(5) These findings are interpreted in a framework of Activation/Monitoring Theory. |
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