A simple gesture can be formed into a child's memory so quickly that it will cause the child to give a false answer to a question accompanied by that gesture.A new finding suggests that parents,social workers,psychologists and lawyers should be careful with their hands as well as their words.
While memories of both adults and children are easy to react to suggestion,those of children are known to be particularly influenced,said a researcher,Sara Broaders of Northwestern University.
Previous research,for example,has shown that detailed questions often cause false answers;when asked,say "Did you drink juice at the picnic?",the child is likely to say "yes" even if no juice had been available.It is not that the child is consciously lying,but rather the detail is quickly formed into his or her memory.
To avoid this problem,social workers have long been advised to ask children only open-ended questions,such as "What did you have at the picnic?"But an open-ended question paired with a gesture,is treated like a detailed question.That is,children become likely to answer falsely.
And 77% of children gave at least one piece of false information when a detail was suggested by an ordinary gesture.Gestures may also become more popular when talking with non-fluent language users,such as little kids. Broaders advises parents and other adults to "try to be aware of your hands when questioning a child about an event. Otherwise,you might be getting answers that don't mean what actually happened."
【小题1】According to the author,gestures .| A．have not any function at all | B．are rarely used by people |
| C．have a certain effect on children | D．are often used by social workers |
| A．these gestures are very attractive | B．their memories are affected easily |
| C．children are easy to tell lies | D．they like these gestures |
| A．What will you have for lunch? | B．Did you cheat in the last English examination? |
| C．Where are you going,Lucy? | D．Did you see anything else last night? |
| A．ask less open-ended questions | B．use familiar words and phrases |
| C．ask detailed questions | D．use gestures carefully |
