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Pérez-Mata N, Diges M. False memories in forensic psychology: do cognition and brain activity tell the same story? Front Psychol 2024; 15:1327196. [PMID: 38827889 PMCID: PMC11141885 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1327196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
One of the most important problems in forensic psychology is the impossibility of reliably discriminating between true and false memories when the only prosecution evidence comes from the memory of a witness or a victim. Unfortunately, both children and adults can be persuaded that they have been victims of past criminal acts, usually of a sexual nature. In adults, suggestion often occurs in the context of suggestive therapies based on the belief that traumatic events are repressed, while children come to believe and report events that never occurred as a result of repeated suggestive questioning. Cognitive Researchers have designed false memory paradigms (i.e., misinformation effect, Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm, event implantation paradigm) to first form false memories and then determine whether it is possible to reliably differentiate between false and true memories. In the present study, we review the contribution of cognitive research to the formation of false memories and the neuropsychological approaches aimed to discriminate between true and false memories. Based on these results, we analyze the applicability of the cognitive and neuropsychological evidence to the forensic setting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nieves Pérez-Mata
- Department of Psicología Básica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Fafrowicz M, Ceglarek A, Olszewska J, Sobczak A, Bohaterewicz B, Ostrogorska M, Reuter-Lorenz P, Lewandowska K, Sikora-Wachowicz B, Oginska H, Hubalewska-Mazgaj M, Marek T. Dynamics of working memory process revealed by independent component analysis in an fMRI study. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2900. [PMID: 36808174 PMCID: PMC9938907 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29869-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 02/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Human memory is prone to errors in many everyday activities but also when cultivating hobbies such as traveling and/or learning a new language. For instance, while visiting foreign countries, people erroneously recall foreign language words that are meaningless to them. Our research simulated such errors in a modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm for short-term memory with phonologically related stimuli aimed at uncovering behavioral and neuronal indices of false memory formation with regard to time-of-day, a variable known to influence memory. Fifty-eight participants were tested in a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner twice. The results of an Independent Component Analysis revealed encoding-related activity of the medial visual network preceding correct recognition of positive probes and correct rejection of lure probes. The engagement of this network preceding false alarms was not observed. We also explored if diurnal rhythmicity influences working memory processes. Diurnal differences were seen in the default mode network and the medial visual network with lower deactivation in the evening hours. The GLM results showed greater activation of the right lingual gyrus, part of the visual cortex and the left cerebellum in the evening. The study offers new insight into the mechanisms associated with false memories, suggesting that deficient engagement of the medial visual network during the memorization phase of a task results in short-term memory distortions. The results shed new light on the dynamics of working memory processes by taking into account the effect of time-of-day on memory performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magdalena Fafrowicz
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Lojasiewicza Street 4, 30-348, Krakow, Poland.
| | - Anna Ceglarek
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Lojasiewicza Street 4, 30-348, Krakow, Poland.
| | - Justyna Olszewska
- grid.267474.40000 0001 0674 4543Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI USA
| | - Anna Sobczak
- grid.5522.00000 0001 2162 9631Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Lojasiewicza Street 4, 30-348 Krakow, Poland
| | - Bartosz Bohaterewicz
- grid.433893.60000 0001 2184 0541Department of Psychology of Individual Differences, Psychological Diagnosis and Psychometrics, Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Monika Ostrogorska
- grid.5522.00000 0001 2162 9631Chair of Radiology, Medical College, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Patricia Reuter-Lorenz
- grid.214458.e0000000086837370Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
| | - Koryna Lewandowska
- grid.5522.00000 0001 2162 9631Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Lojasiewicza Street 4, 30-348 Krakow, Poland
| | - Barbara Sikora-Wachowicz
- grid.5522.00000 0001 2162 9631Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Lojasiewicza Street 4, 30-348 Krakow, Poland
| | - Halszka Oginska
- grid.5522.00000 0001 2162 9631Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Lojasiewicza Street 4, 30-348 Krakow, Poland
| | - Magdalena Hubalewska-Mazgaj
- grid.413454.30000 0001 1958 0162Department of Drug Addiction Pharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
| | - Tadeusz Marek
- grid.5522.00000 0001 2162 9631Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Lojasiewicza Street 4, 30-348 Krakow, Poland
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Friehs MA, Greene C, Pastötter B. Transcranial direct current stimulation over the left anterior temporal lobe during memory retrieval differentially affects true and false recognition in the DRM task. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 54:4609-4620. [PMID: 34076917 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of non-invasive brain stimulation that has been used to modulate human brain activity and cognition. One area which has not yet been extensively explored using tDCS is the generation of false memories. In this study, we combined the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task with stimulation of the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) during retrieval. This area has been shown to be involved in semantic processing in general and retrieval of false memories in the DRM paradigm in particular. During stimulation, 0.7 mA were applied via a 9 cm² electrode over the left ATL, with the 35 cm² return electrode placed over the left deltoid. We contrasted the effects of cathodal, anodal, and sham stimulation, which were applied in the recognition phase of the experiment on a sample of 78 volunteers. Results showed impaired recognition of true memories after both anodal and cathodal stimulation in comparison to sham stimulation, suggesting a reduced signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, the results revealed enhanced false recognition of concept lure items during cathodal stimulation compared to anodal stimulation, indicating a polarity-dependent impact of tDCS on false memories in the DRM task. The pathway by which tDCS modulated false recognition remains unclear: stimulation may have changed the activation of irrelevant lures or affected the weighting and monitoring of lure activations. Nevertheless, these results are a first step towards using brain stimulation to decrease false memories. Practical implications of the findings for real-life settings, for example, in the courtroom, need to be addressed in future work.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ciara Greene
- School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Bernhard Pastötter
- Department of Cognitive Psychology and Methodology, Trier University, Trier, Germany
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Kurkela KA, Dennis NA. Event-related fMRI studies of false memory: An Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analysis. Neuropsychologia 2016; 81:149-167. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2015] [Revised: 11/18/2015] [Accepted: 12/09/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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