An examination of two-process theories of false recognition

Examining the effects of pleasantness ratings on correct and false recognition in the DRM paradigm: accuracy, recollection and familiarity estimates

Distinctive encoding usually increases correct recognition while also producing a reduction in false recognition. In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) illusion this phenomenon, called the mirror effect, occurs when participants focus on unique features of each of the words in the study list. In previous studies, the pleasantness rating task, used to foster distinctive encoding, generated different patterns of results. The main aim of our research is to examine under what circumstances this task can produce the mirror effect in the DRM paradigm, based on evidence from recognition accuracy and subjective retrieval experience. In Experiment 1, a standard version (word pleasantness rating on a 5-point Likert-type scale) was used for comparison with two other encoding conditions: shallow processing (vowel identification) and a read-only control. The standard task, compared to the other conditions, increased correct recognition, but did not reduce false recognition, and this result may be affected by the number of lists presented for study. Therefore, in experiment 2, to minimize the possible effect of the so-called retention size, the number of studied lists was reduced. In addition, the standard version was compared with a supposedly more item-specific version (participants rated the pleasantness of words while thinking of a single reason for this), also including the read-only control condition. In both versions of the pleasantness rating task, more correct recognition is achieved compared to the control condition, with no differences between the two versions. In the false recognition observed here, only the specific pleasantness rating task achieved a reduction relative to the control condition. On the other hand, the subjective retrieval experience accompanied correct and false recognition in the various study conditions. Although the standard pleasantness rating task has been considered to perform item-specific processing, our results challenge that claim. Furthermore, we propose a possible boundary condition of the standard task for the reduction of false recognition in the DRM paradigm.

False memory in a second language: The importance of controlling the knowledge of word meaning

In the globalized world we live in, it is increasingly common for people to speak more than one language. Although research in psychology has been widely interested in the study of false memories with the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, to date, there is a scarcity of studies comparing false memories in the first and the second language (L1 and L2, respectively). It is noteworthy that one of the most studied variables in the DRM paradigm, the backward associative strength (BAS), has hardly been studied in the L2. Moreover, the only study that recently examined this matter found differences in the knowledge of L2-word meaning between the high-BAS and low-BAS lists, which would hinder the interpretation of the BAS effect in L2 false memories. Taking all this into account, the current work examined false memories in the L1 (Spanish) and the L2 (English) as a function of BAS overcoming the limitations of the previous study. We selected DRM lists using both Spanish and English free association norms and lists were constructed to vary in BAS values while controlling the knowledge of word meaning. Results showed that false recognition was greater in the L1 or dominant language than in the L2 or non-dominant language. Furthermore, BAS modulated the false recognition in both the L1 and the L2. That is, false recognition was higher in high-BAS than low-BAS lists in both languages. Sensitivity index from the signal-detection theory helped us gain further insight into these results. The main findings are discussed in the light of theoretical models from both the false memory and the second language processing literature. Finally, practical implications and future research are provided.

Feelings of Contrast at Test Reduce False Memory in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott Paradigm

False memories in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm are explained in terms of the interplay between error-inflating and error-editing (e.g., monitoring) mechanisms. In this study, we focused on disqualifying monitoring, a decision process that helps to reject false memories through the recollection of collateral information (i.e., recall-to-reject strategies). Participants engage in recall-to-reject strategies using one or two metacognitive processes: (1) applying the logic of mutual exclusivity or (2) experiencing feelings of contrast between studied items and unstudied lures. We aimed to provide, for the first time in the DRM literature, evidence favorable to the existence of a recall-to-reject strategy based on the experience of feelings of contrast. One hundred and forty participants studied six-word DRM lists (e.g., spy, hell, fist, fight, abduction, mortal), simultaneously associated with three critical lures (e.g., WAR, BAD, FEAR). Lists differed in their ease to identify their critical lures (extremely low-BAS lists vs. high-BAS lists). At recognition test, participants saw either one or the three critical lures of the lists. Participants in the three-critical-lure condition were expected to increase their monitoring, as they would experience stronger feelings of contrast than the participants in the one-critical-lure condition. Results supported our hypothesis, showing lower false recognition in the three-critical-lure condition than in the one-critical-lure condition. Critically, in the three-critical-lure condition, participants reduced even more false memory when they could also resort to another monitoring strategy (i.e., identify-to-reject). These findings suggest that, in the DRM context, disqualifying monitoring could be guided by experiencing feelings of contrast between different types of words.

Questioning the Role of Forward Associative Strength in False Memories: Evidence From Deese-Roediger-McDermott Lists With Three Critical Lures

We report an experiment examining the factors that produce false recognition in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. We selectively manipulated the probability that critical lures produce study items in free association, known as forward associative strength (FAS), while controlling the probability that study items produce critical lures in free association, known as backward associative strength (BAS). Results showed that false recognition of critical lures failed to differ between strong and weak FAS conditions. Follow-up correlational analyses further supported this outcome, showing that FAS was not correlated with false recognition, despite substantial variability in both variables across our stimulus sets. However, these correlational analyses did produce a significant and strong relationship between BAS and false recognition. These results support views that propose false memory is produced by activation spreading from study items to critical lures during encoding, which leads critical lures to be confused with episodically-experienced events.

Closing the door to false memory: the effects of levels-of-processing and stimulus type on the rejection of perceptually vs. semantically dissimilar distractors

False recognition memory for nonstudied items that share features with targets can be reduced by retrieval monitoring mechanisms. The recall-to-reject process, for example, involves the recollection of information about studied items that disqualifies inconsistent test probes. Monitoring for specific features during retrieval may be enhanced by an encoding orientation that is recapitulated during retrieval. In two experiments, we used concrete words or door scenes as materials and manipulated the level of processing at study and the type of distractors presented at test. We showed that for the verbal material, semantic level of processing at study results in an effective rejection of semantically inconsistent distractors. However, for the pictorial material, the perceptual level of processing leads to an effective rejection of perceptually inconsistent distractors. For targets, the effect of levels of processing was observed for words but not for pictures. The results suggest that retrieval monitoring mechanisms depend on interactions between encoding orientation, study materials, and differentiating features of distractors.

The effect of language proficiency and associative strength on false memory

In two experiments we examined the role of language proficiency and associative strength in the production of false memory. We constructed Deese-Roediger-McDermott lists using both Spanish and English free association norms. Lists were constructed to vary in backward associative strength (BAS). Experiment 1 participants were native Spanish speakers with some proficiency in English while Experiment 2 participants were native Spanish participants that had either high, intermediate, or low English proficiency. Results showed that, in both Experiment 1 and Experiment 2, false recognition was greater in participants' dominant language (L1 or Spanish) than in their non-dominant language (L2 or English), and false recognition in L2 increased with L2 proficiency when low-BAS lists were studied (Experiment 2). Further, false recognition was higher in high-BAS lists than in low-BAS lists in both L1 and L2. Finally, we collected a measure of participants' knowledge of our stimulus words in L2. These data showed that participants had far from perfect knowledge of all L2 stimuli. Analyses that factored out the effects of L2 word knowledge failed to alter the effects of L1 vs. L2, L2 proficiency and BAS on false recognition.

Examining theories of cognitive ageing using the false memory paradigm

Changes in memory performance with advancing age have been well documented, even in the absence of brain injury or dementia. The mechanisms underlying cognitive ageing are still a matter of debate. This article describes a comparison between young (18-25 years old) and older (60+ years) adults using the Deese–Roediger–McDermott false memory paradigm and manipulating the number of words included in the memory lists. Two key theories of cognitive ageing (the Inhibitory Deficit Hypothesis and the Transmission Deficit Hypothesis) predict opposing patterns on this task. Results showed that longer lists increase the likelihood that a lure is retrieved and that older adults are more susceptible to false memories than are younger adults. We argue that these findings are supportive of the Inhibitory Deficit Hypothesis and cannot easily be reconciled with the Transmission Deficit Hypothesis account.

Memory Distortion and Its Avoidance: An Event-Related Potentials Study on False Recognition and Correct Rejection

Memory researchers have long been captivated by the nature of memory distortions and have made efforts to identify the neural correlates of true and false memories. However, the underlying mechanisms of avoiding false memories by correctly rejecting related lures remains underexplored. In this study, we employed a variant of the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm to explore neural signatures of committing and avoiding false memories. ERP were obtained for True recognition, False recognition, Correct rejection of new items, and, more importantly, Correct rejection of related lures. With these ERP data, early-frontal, left-parietal, and late right-frontal old/new effects (associated with familiarity, recollection, and monitoring processes, respectively) were analysed. Results indicated that there were similar patterns for True and False recognition in all three old/new effects analysed in our study. Also, False recognition and Correct rejection of related lures activities seemed to share common underlying familiarity-based processes. The ERP similarities between False recognition and Correct rejection of related lures disappeared when recollection processes were examined because only False recognition presented a parietal old/new effect. This finding supported the view that actual false recollections underlie false memories, providing evidence consistent with previous behavioural research and with most ERP and neuroimaging studies. Later, with the onset of monitoring processes, False recognition and Correct rejection of related lures waveforms presented, again, clearly dissociated patterns. Specifically, False recognition and True recognition showed more positive going patterns than Correct rejection of related lures signal and Correct rejection of new items signature. Since False recognition and Correct rejection of related lures triggered familiarity-recognition processes, our results suggest that deciding which items are studied is based more on recollection processes, which are later supported by monitoring processes. Results are discussed in terms of Activation-Monitoring Framework and Fuzzy Trace-Theory, the most prominent explanatory theories of false memory raised with the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm.

Normative study of theme identifiability: Instructions with and without explanation of the false memory effect

False-memory illusions have been widely studied using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm (DRM). In this paradigm, words semantically related to a single nonpresented critical word are studied. In a later memory test, critical words are often falsely recalled and recognized. The present normative study was conducted to measure the theme identifiability of 60 associative word lists in Spanish that include six words (e.g., stove, coat, blanket, scarf, chill, and bonnet) that are simultaneously associated with three critical words (e.g., HEAT, COLD, and WINTER; Beato & Díez, Psicothema, 26, 457-463, 2011). Different levels of backward associative strength were used in the construction of the DRM lists. In addition, we used two types of instructions to obtain theme identifiability. In the without-explanation condition, traditional instructions were used, requesting participants to write the theme list. In the with-explanation condition, the false-memory effect and how the lists were built were explained, and an example of a DRM list and critical words was shown. Participants then had to discover the critical words. The results showed that all lists produced theme identifiability. Moreover, some lists had a higher theme identifiability rate (e.g., 61 % for the critical words LOVE, BOYFRIEND, COUPLE) than others (e.g., 24 % for CITY, PLACE, VILLAGE). After comparing the theme identifiabilities in the different conditions, the results indicated higher theme identifiability when the false-memory effect was explained than without such an explanation. Overall, these new normative data provide a useful tool for those experiments that, for example, aim to analyze the wide differences observed in false memory with DRM lists and the role of theme identifiability.

Hemispheric asymmetries in the activation and monitoring of memory errors

Previous research on the lateralization of memory errors suggests that the right hemisphere's tendency to produce more memory errors than the left hemisphere reflects hemispheric differences in semantic activation. However, all prior research that has examined the lateralization of memory errors has used self-paced recognition judgments. Because activation occurs early in memory retrieval, with more time to make a decision, other memory processes, like strategic monitoring processes, may affect memory errors. By manipulating the time subjects were given to make memory decisions, this study separated the influence of automatic memory processes (activation) from strategic memory processes (monitoring) on the production of false memories. The results indicated that when retrieval was fast, the right hemisphere produced more memory errors than the left hemisphere. However, when retrieval was slow, the left hemisphere's error-proneness increased compared to the fast retrieval condition, while the right hemisphere's error-proneness remained the same. These results suggest that the right hemisphere's errors are largely due to activation, while the left hemisphere's errors are influenced by both activation and monitoring.

The influence of forward and backward associative strength on false recognition

In an experiment, I examined the influence of 2 associative factors on false memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995): the strength of the association from studied items to unstudied lure items (backward associative strength, or BAS) and the strength of the association from unstudied lure items to studied items (forward associative strength, or FAS). BAS and FAS were manipulated, and participants were asked to respond rapidly at retrieval or were allowed to respond in a self-paced manner in order to examine the contributions of automatic and controlled memory processes to lure errors. The results of this study demonstrated that both BAS and FAS influenced lure errors under speeded retrieval conditions and under self-paced retrieval conditions, as well as that lure errors generally increased when retrieval time increased. These results favor the explanation of false memory offered by global-matching models over those of activation-monitoring theory and fuzzy-trace theory.

The role of memory activation in creating false memories of encoding context

Using 3 experiments, I examined false memory for encoding context by presenting Deese-Roediger-McDermott themes (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) in usual-looking fonts and by testing related, but unstudied, lure items in a font that was shown during encoding. In 2 of the experiments, testing lure items in the font used to study their associated themes increased false recognition relative to testing lure items in a font that was used to study a different lure's theme. Further, studying a larger number of associates exacerbated the influence of testing lure items in a font used to study their associated themes. Finally, testing lures in a font that was encoded many times, but was not used to present the lures' studied associates, increased lure errors more than testing lures in a font that was encoded relatively fewer times. These results favor the explanation of false recognition offered by global-matching models of recognition memory over the explanations of activation-monitoring theory and fuzzy-trace theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Opposite developmental trends for false recognition of basic and superordinate names

This study investigated the development of false memories for basic and superordinate names using the DRM procedure. Two experiments were conducted with younger (3-5 years old) and older (10-12 years old) children. In the first experiment the DRM procedure was used with categorised lists and in the second experiment both types of lists--categorised and associative--were applied. False recognition for basic and superordinate names showed opposite developmental trends, regardless of list type. False recognition increased for critical-basic items and decreased for critical-superordinate items with age. These opposing results are mainly explained by age differences in conceptual knowledge and editing processes.