A hidden camera showed who looked at the back of the card. When the researchers asked them the answer to a question, those who peeked gave the correct answer. However, when asked entrapment questions regarding the color the answer was written in and the picture, those with higher verbal working memory answered them wrong, in order to verbally disguise that they peeked; those with lower verbal working memory answered the entrapment questions correctly, verbally revealing that they had peeked.
一台隐蔽式的摄像机会显示出谁偷看了卡片的背面。当研究人员问到一个问题的答案时,那些偷看的孩子给出了正确答案。然而,当问到有关所写答案的颜色和旁边图片的陷阱问题时,那些有较高(口头)语言运作记忆力的孩子会答错,这是为了在语言上掩饰他们偷看过;那些语言运作记忆能力较低的孩子在陷阱问题上会给出正确答案,这样暴露出他们偷看的事实。
The children also had their visuo-spatial working memory tested. Visuo-spatial working memory is our ability to process visual information, like images and numbers. In contrast with verbal working memory, there was no association between avoiding entrapment and Visuo-spatial working memory ability. This is likely because telling a successful lie requires processing verbal information rather than visual.
这些孩子也接受了视觉空间运作记忆力的测试。视觉空间运作记忆力是我们处理视觉信息的能力,比如形象和数字。与语言运作记忆力相反,回避陷阱问题和视觉空间记忆能力之间没有联系。这很可能是因为说一个成功的谎言,比起处理视觉信息的能力,他们更需要处理语言信息的能力。
Parents may sometimes become frustrated when their child lies about sticking their hand in a cookie jar, but we can take heart that the more believable the explanation for the crumbs around their mouth, the more intelligent they are.
当孩子们在偷糖吃一事上撒谎的时候,父母们很恼火,但是我们要记住,孩子们对嘴边的碎屑解释得越可信,就表示他们越聪明。