On the adaptive function of children's and adults' false memories

A Systematic Review of Creativity-Related Studies Applying the Remote Associates Test From 2000 to 2019

The study examines how the remote associates test (RAT) has been used to examine theories of creativity through a review of recent studies on creativity. Creativity-related studies published between 2000 and 2019 were retrieved from the SCOPUS database. A total of 172 papers were chosen for further analysis. Content analysis shows that research on creativity using RAT mainly concerns remote association, insight problem-solving, general creative process, test development, individual difference, effect of treatment, clinical case, social interaction effect, and predictor or criterion. The study constructs a theoretical framework based on the 4P (Product–Person–Process–Place) model and demonstrates how empirical studies using the RAT explore the individual differences, internal processes, and external influences of creative thinking. In addition, the most commonly used version of the RAT is the Compound Remote Associates Problems (Bowden and Jung-Beeman, 2003a). Current research shows a trend whereby the creative thinking process has been receiving greater attention. In particular, a growing number of studies in this field have been carried out using cognitive neuroscience technologies. These findings suggest that the RAT provides researchers with a way to deepen their understanding of different levels of creativity.

Can False Memories Prime Problem Solutions for Healthy Older Adults and Those With Alzheimer's Disease?

OBJECTIVE

Recent research has shown that false memories can have a positive consequence on human cognition in both children and young adults. The present experiment investigated whether false memories could have similar positive effects by priming solutions to insight-based problems in healthy older adults and people with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

METHOD

Participants were asked to solve compound remote associate task (CRAT) problems, half of which had been preceded by the presentation of Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists whose critical lures (CL) were also the solutions to those problems.

RESULTS

The results showed that regardless of cognitive ability, when the CL was falsely recognized, CRAT problems were solved more often and reliably faster than problems that were not primed by a DRM list. When the CL was not falsely recognized, CRAT problem solution rates and times were no different from when there was no DRM priming.

DISCUSSION

These findings are consistent with predictions from theories of associative activation and demonstrate the importance of automatic spreading activation processes in memory across the life span.

Priming older adults and people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease problem-solving with false memories

In two experiments we investigated whether older adult controls (OACs) and people with mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) benefit from false memory priming effects in subsequent problem-solving tasks. In addition, and unlike in previous false memory priming studies with older adults, we examined latency measures in the recognition phase. In Experiment 1 participants were asked to solve compound remote associate task (CRAT) problems, half of which had been preceded by the presentation of Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists whose critical lures (CLs) were also the solutions to those problems. In Experiment 2, we used a similar paradigm but investigated whether CLs could prime solutions to subsequent analogical reasoning problems. In this latter experiment, we also examined whether these priming effects were stronger when the activation of the CL term occurred during the memory task (was presented as part of the list; i.e., true memories) or when these items were not presented but arose during encoding due to spreading activation (i.e., false memories). We found that all three groups' performance on these tasks was facilitated only by false memories spontaneously generated from the prior presentation of DRM lists. That is, performance on CRATs and analogical reasoning tasks was better (greater accuracy and faster speed) when those problems were preceded by DRM lists whose CLs also served as the solution to those problems. These findings are consistent with previous results from studies with children, young adults, and older adults and extends them to people with more moderate AD.

The feature boost in false memory: the roles of monitoring and critical item identifiability

The feature boost refers to increased false memories for word lists that are both associatively and categorically (C + A) related to a non-presented critical item (CI) relative to lists that are only associatively (NC-A) related [Coane, J. H., McBride, D. M., Termonen, M.-L., & Cutting, J. C. (2016). Categorical and associative relations increase false memory relative to purely associative relations. Memory & Cognition, 44(1), 37-49. doi:10.3758/s13421-015-0543-1]. We explored the replicability of the feature boost and its dependance on monitoring processes by explicitly warning participants about the nature of the lists or by asking participants to guess the CI (implicit warning). Overall, the feature boost was replicated. Guessing performance was higher for C + A lists than for NC-A lists. Explicit warnings were equally effective for both list types in reducing false memory relative to recall and to a no-recall math condition. When the CI was not guessed or recalled, the feature boost emerged. However, when the CI was guessed or previously recalled, false alarms did not differ as a function of list type. The feature boost seems to be driven in part by differences in the identifiability of the CI, such that CIs related to C + A lists are harder to identify and thus reject. These results suggest that differences in monitoring processes that are sensitive to CI identifiability contribute to the effect.

Priming older adults and people with Alzheimer's disease analogical problem-solving with true and false memories

We investigated the extent to which activation of specific information in associative networks during a memory task could facilitate subsequent analogical problem solving in healthy older adults as well as those with early onset Alzheimer's disease. We also examined whether these priming effects were stronger when the activation of the critical solution term during the memory task occurred when the item was actually presented (true memories) or when this item arose due to spreading activation to a related but nonpresented item (false memory). Older adult controls (OACs) and people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) were asked to solve 9 verbal proportional analogies, 3 of which had been primed by Deese/Roediger-McDermott lists where the critical lure (and problem solution) was presented as a word in the list (true memory), 3 of which were primed by DRM lists whose critical lures were spontaneously activated during list presentation (false memory), and 3 of which were unprimed. As expected, OACs were better (both in terms of speed and accuracy) at solving problems than people with AD and both groups were better when false memories were primes than when true memories were primes or there were no primes. There were no reliable differences between unprimed and true prime problems. These findings demonstrate that (a) priming of problem solutions extends to verbal proportional analogies in OACs and people with AD, (b) false memories are more effective at priming problem solutions than true memories, and (c) there are clear positive consequences to the production of false memories.

Normative Data for 84 UK English Rebus Puzzles

Recent investigations have established the value of using rebus puzzles in studying the insight and analytic processes that underpin problem solving. The current study sought to validate a pool of 84 rebus puzzles in terms of their solution rates, solution times, error rates, solution confidence, self-reported solution strategies, and solution phrase familiarity. All of the puzzles relate to commonplace English sayings and phrases in the United Kingdom. Eighty-four rebus puzzles were selected from a larger stimulus set of 168 such puzzles and were categorized into six types in relation to the similarity of their structures. The 84 selected problems were thence divided into two sets of 42 items (Set A and Set B), with rebus structure evenly balanced between each set. Participants (N = 170; 85 for Set A and 85 for Set B) were given 30 s to solve each item, subsequently indicating their confidence in their solution and self-reporting the process used to solve the problem (analysis or insight), followed by the provision of ratings of the familiarity of the solution phrases. The resulting normative data yield solution rates, error rates, solution times, confidence ratings, self-reported strategies and familiarity ratings for 84 rebus puzzles, providing valuable information for the selection and matching of problems in future research.

La fragilidad de la memoria: creencias falsas y memoria autobiográfica, una revisión preliminar

La memoria es un proceso reconstructivo, donde distintos recuerdos buscan conformar una narrativa autobiográfica coherente. No obstante, dichos recuerdos no son completamente precisos, ya que en diversas investigaciones se ha encontrado que las personas tienden a reportar episodios de su pasado que sucedieron ya sea de manera distinta o que en realidad nunca ocurrieron. Tras considerar a la memoria autobiográfica como el mayor logro ontogenético humano, surge la interrogante respecto a cómo puede suceder un fenómeno tan impreciso como el de las memorias falsas. En el presente estudio teórico se revisa la principal evidencia científica respecto a la existencia de memorias falsas, se analiza su etiología y se profundiza en su posible rol adaptativo.

Sleep and mindfulness meditation as they relate to false memory

By a systematic analysis of the current literature, we compare two states of sleep and meditation in terms of their role in the formation or suppression of Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false memory. We aim to suggest that the occurrence of false memory under these two states is a result of reinforcing some abilities and changes in cognitive systems which can ultimately improve some aspects of cognitive functions. In our analogy, we propose that: (1) both sleep and meditation may improve source monitoring ability whose failure is one of the most important mechanisms in producing false memories, and (2) despite improvement in source monitoring ability, adaptive cognitive processes, as mechanisms which are common in sleep and meditation, can still produce false memories. In conclusion, we propose that in spite of their contribution to false memory through adaptive processes, the beneficial role of sleep and meditation in cognition may be more prominent than their harmful role.

Fictional First Memories

In a large-scale survey, 6,313 respondents provided descriptions of their first memory and their age when they encoded that memory, and they completed various memory judgments and ratings. In good agreement with many other studies, where mean age at encoding of earliest memories is usually found to fall somewhere in the first half of the 4th year of life, the mean age at encoding here was 3.15 years. The established view is that the distribution around mean age at encoding is truncated, with very few or no memories dating to the preverbal period, that is, below about 2 years of age. However, we found that 2,479 first memories (nearly 40% of the entire sample) dated to an age at encoding of 2 years and younger, with 887 (14.1%) dating to 1 year and younger. We discuss how such improbable, fictional first memories could have arisen and contrast them with more probable first memories, those with an age at encoding of 3 years and older.

False memories, false preferences: Flexible retrieval mechanisms supporting successful inference bias novel decisions

Prior research suggests that episodic memory can guide value-based decisions when single episodes are encoded in relation to the specific reward-context in which they were experienced. The current experiments examine the role that a flexible recombination-related retrieval mechanism that allows one to link together distinct events plays in the misattribution of specific reward-contexts across distinct episodes. To determine whether the same recombination-related retrieval mechanism supports both successful inference and transfer of reward-context across episodes, we developed a modified version of an associative inference paradigm in which participants encoded overlapping associations (AB, BC) that could later be linked to support inferential retrieval (AC), where one element ("A") was tied to reward. Our key experimental manipulation concerned whether value memory (Experiments 1 and 2) or decision bias tests (Experiment 3) were probed before or after the associative inference test, thereby allowing us to assess whether false value transfer and decision bias scores increased after as compared to before successful versus unsuccessful inference. Results revealed that participants more frequently misattributed the specific reward-context ("A") to unrewarded items ("C;" Experiments 1 and 2) and showed higher decision bias scores when asked to choose between two previously unrewarded items ("C;" Experiment 3) for successful compared with unsuccessful inference, but only when the value memory and decision bias tests were given after the associative inference test. These results suggest that a recombination-related retrieval mechanism that supports successful inference also contributes to the misattribution of reward-context in memory and further biases participants' novel value-based decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record

Can false memories prime alternative solutions to ambiguous problems?

Research has demonstrated that false memories are capable of priming and facilitating insight-based problem-solving tasks by increasing solution rates and decreasing solution times. The present research extended this finding by investigating whether false memories could be used to bias ambiguous insight-based problem-solving tasks in a similar manner. Compound remote associate task (CRAT) problems with two possible correct answers, a dominant and a non-dominant solution, were created and normed (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, participants were asked to solve these CRAT problems after they were given Deese/Roediger-McDermott lists whose critical lures were also the non-dominant solution to half of the corresponding CRATs. As predicted, when false memories served as primes, solution rates were higher and solution times were faster for non-dominant than dominant CRAT solutions. This biasing effect was only found when participants falsely recalled the critical lure, and was not found when participants did not falsely recall the critical lure, or when they were not primed. Results are discussed with regard to spreading activation models of solution competition in problem-solving tasks and current theories of false memory priming effects.

Flexible retrieval: When true inferences produce false memories

Episodic memory involves flexible retrieval processes that allow us to link together distinct episodes, make novel inferences across overlapping events, and recombine elements of past experiences when imagining future events. However, the same flexible retrieval and recombination processes that underpin these adaptive functions may also leave memory prone to error or distortion, such as source misattributions in which details of one event are mistakenly attributed to another related event. To determine whether the same recombination-related retrieval mechanism supports both successful inference and source memory errors, we developed a modified version of an associative inference paradigm in which participants encoded everyday scenes comprised of people, objects, and other contextual details. These scenes contained overlapping elements (AB, BC) that could later be linked to support novel inferential retrieval regarding elements that had not appeared together previously (AC). Our critical experimental manipulation concerned whether contextual details were probed before or after the associative inference test, thereby allowing us to assess whether (a) false memories increased for successful versus unsuccessful inferences, and (b) any such effects were specific to after compared with before participants received the inference test. In each of 4 experiments that used variants of this paradigm, participants were more susceptible to false memories for contextual details after successful than unsuccessful inferential retrieval, but only when contextual details were probed after the associative inference test. These results suggest that the retrieval-mediated recombination mechanism that underlies associative inference also contributes to source misattributions that result from combining elements of distinct episodes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Undermining belief in false memories leads to less efficient problem-solving behaviour

Memories of events for which the belief in the occurrence of those events is undermined, but recollection is retained, are called nonbelieved memories (NBMs). The present experiments examined the effects of NBMs on subsequent problem-solving behaviour. In Experiment 1, we challenged participants' beliefs in their memories and examined whether NBMs affected subsequent solution rates on insight-based problems. True and false memories were elicited using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Then participants' belief in true and false memories was challenged by telling them the item had not been presented. We found that when the challenge led to undermining belief in false memories, fewer problems were solved than when belief was not challenged. In Experiment 2, a similar procedure was used except that some participants solved the problems one week rather than immediately after the feedback. Again, our results showed that undermining belief in false memories resulted in lower problem solution rates. These findings suggest that for false memories, belief is an important agent in whether memories serve as effective primes for immediate and delayed problem-solving.