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Carpenter CM, Webb CE, Overman AA, Dennis NA. Within-category similarity negatively affects associative memory performance in both younger and older adults. Memory 2023; 31:77-91. [PMID: 36131610 PMCID: PMC9991946 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2022.2123524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Associative memory involves the ability to encode and remember the relationship between individual items. This ability can become diminished when there is a high degree of similarity between stimuli that are being learned. Associative memory errors often stem from the fact that lures include a high degree of item familiarity as well as mnemonic similarity with the original associative episode. The current set of experiments examined how this overlap, in the form of within-category similarity, affects veridical and false retrieval in both younger and older adults. Across three experiments, results suggest that mnemonic overlap between targets and lures is detrimental to the ability to discriminate between highly similar information. Specifically, shared category membership for targets and lures led to increased false associative memories across age groups. These results have implications for scenarios where there is a high degree of overlap between target and lure events and indicate that these types of associative memory distinctions are difficult irrespective of age.
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Affiliation(s)
- C M Carpenter
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - C E Webb
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - A A Overman
- Psychology Department & Neuroscience Program, Elon University, Elon, NC, USA
| | - N A Dennis
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
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2
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Conceptual metaphors influence memory automatically: Evidence from a divided attention false memory task. Mem Cognit 2022; 50:1336-1349. [DOI: 10.3758/s13421-022-01322-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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3
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Abichou K, La Corte V, Bellegarde A, Nicolas S, Piolino P. How rich are false memories in a naturalistic context in healthy aging? Memory 2021; 30:262-278. [PMID: 34850666 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2021.2006717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The recall of factual and contextual information is a core characteristic of episodic memory sensitive to aging effects. The innovative aim of the present study was to assess in a naturalistic context the quantity and quality of correct and false free recalls among younger and older adults considering feature binding (What-Where-When-Details) and recollection (Remembering vs. Knowing). Thanks to virtual reality, we designed a multimodal environment simulating a lively town in which we implemented a variant of a DRM task rich in sets of semantically related items (e.g., fruits on a market stall). We asked 30 young and 30 older participants to navigate in the virtual environment, paying attention to the items, and then recall as many items and as much contextual information as possible and indicate the presence of recollection. As expected, older adults produced fewer correct recall but more intrusions than younger adults, and their correct recall was more deficient in binding and recollection. In both age groups, false recall was associated with the correct context inferred from a related set of items. However, the intrusions produced by older adults were highly recollected compared to those of the younger adults, and they were associated with false item-related contextual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kouloud Abichou
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| | - Valentina La Corte
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.,Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and Alzheimer's Disease, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Alexandre Bellegarde
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| | - Serge Nicolas
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.,Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
| | - Pascale Piolino
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.,Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
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4
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Cadavid S, Beato MS, Suarez M, Albuquerque PB. Feelings of Contrast at Test Reduce False Memory in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott Paradigm. Front Psychol 2021; 12:686390. [PMID: 34589019 PMCID: PMC8473749 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.686390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Cadavid
- School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia
| | | | - Mar Suarez
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
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5
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Abichou K, La Corte V, Sperduti M, Gaston-Bellegarde A, Nicolas S, Piolino P. The production of false recognition and the associated state of consciousness following encoding in a naturalistic context in aging. Conscious Cogn 2021; 90:103097. [PMID: 33690048 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 01/09/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Using virtual reality, we implemented a naturalistic variant of the DRM paradigm in young and older adults to evaluate false recall and false recognition. We distinguished false recognition related to the highest semantic association (the critical lures), semantic similarity (i.e. items that belong to the same semantic category), and perceptual similarity (i.e. items that are similar, but not identical in terms of shape or color). The data revealed that younger adults recalled and recognized more correct elements than older adults did while the older adults intruded more critical items than younger adults. Both age groups produced false recognition related to the critical items, followed by perceptually and then semantically related items. False recognitions were highly recollective as they were mainly associated with a sense of remembering, even more so in older adults than in young adults. The decline of executive functions and working memory predicted age-related increases in false memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kouloud Abichou
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France.
| | - Valentina La Corte
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Institute of Memory and Alzheimer's Disease, Department of Neurology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Marco Sperduti
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France
| | | | - Serge Nicolas
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
| | - Pascale Piolino
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France.
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6
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The effect of language proficiency and associative strength on false memory. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 85:3134-3151. [PMID: 33387022 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01449-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/09/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
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.
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7
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Doss MK, Picart JK, Gallo DA. Creating emotional false recollections: Perceptual recombination and conceptual fluency mechanisms. Emotion 2020; 20:750-760. [PMID: 30896206 PMCID: PMC8063351 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
We investigated the impact of 2 hypothetical mechanisms of episodic memory reconstruction-perceptual recombination and conceptual fluency-on objectively measured recollection accuracy and false recollections of neutral and emotional stimuli. Participants encoded negative, neutral, and positive pictures depicting objects and scenes (i.e., target pictures), each accompanied with a descriptive verbal label (e.g., "boy crying at funeral," "wooden basket on floor," "four chimpanzees laughing together"). Next, they encoded fragmented pictures of some of the scenes they did and did not earlier see (perceptual misinformation), or they received multiple presentations of the corresponding verbal labels (conceptual misinformation). Recollection of target pictures was then tested, using labels as retrieval cues. We had three key findings in each of two experiments. First, as in our prior work, both perceptual and conceptual misinformation significantly increased false recollection judgments of nonstudied pictures, including high-confidence errors. These effects implicate perceptual recombination and conceptual fluency mechanisms. Second, these misinformation effects generalized across all emotional categories, implicating separable roles of these two mechanisms on emotional recollections. Finally, conceptual misinformation was less likely to influence negative than neutral recollection errors, providing new evidence that emotion can improve retrieval monitoring accuracy and reduce false memories based on conceptual fluency (i.e., an emotional distinctiveness heuristic). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Manoj K. Doss
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Johns Hopkins University
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8
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Cassol H, Bonin EAC, Bastin C, Puttaert N, Charland-Verville V, Laureys S, Martial C. Near-Death Experience Memories Include More Episodic Components Than Flashbulb Memories. Front Psychol 2020; 11:888. [PMID: 32528353 PMCID: PMC7247850 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Memories of near-death experiences (NDEs) are recalled as "realer" than memories of other real or imagined events. Given their rich phenomenology, emotionality and consequentiality, it was hypothesized that they could meet some aspects of the definition of flashbulb memories. We aimed to identify and compare the episodic and non-episodic information provided in verbal recollections of NDE, flashbulb, and control autobiographical memories. The phenomenological characteristics and centrality of the memories were also compared. Twenty-five participants who had lived a NDE in a life-threatening situation were interviewed and completed the Memory Characteristics Questionnaires as well as the Centrality of Event Scale for their NDE, a flashbulb and another autobiographical memory used as control. Overall, transcribed NDE verbal recollections included a higher overall amount of details and more internal/episodic information than control autobiographical and flashbulb memories. Moreover, flashbulb memories were associated to a lower intensity of feelings while remembering and a lower personal importance, and are less reactivated and less susceptible to be remembered from a first person perspective compared to NDE and control autobiographical memories. Finally, NDE memories are the most central memories to experiencers' identity, followed by control autobiographical and then by flashbulb memories. These findings corroborate previous studies highlighting the impact and uniqueness of NDE memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helena Cassol
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.,Centre du Cerveau2 (Centre Intégré Pluridisciplinaire de l'Étude du Cerveau, de la Cognition et de la Conscience), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Estelle A C Bonin
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.,Centre du Cerveau2 (Centre Intégré Pluridisciplinaire de l'Étude du Cerveau, de la Cognition et de la Conscience), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | | | - Ninon Puttaert
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Vanessa Charland-Verville
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.,Centre du Cerveau2 (Centre Intégré Pluridisciplinaire de l'Étude du Cerveau, de la Cognition et de la Conscience), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Steven Laureys
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.,Centre du Cerveau2 (Centre Intégré Pluridisciplinaire de l'Étude du Cerveau, de la Cognition et de la Conscience), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Charlotte Martial
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.,Centre du Cerveau2 (Centre Intégré Pluridisciplinaire de l'Étude du Cerveau, de la Cognition et de la Conscience), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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9
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Abstract
Both languages are jointly activated in the bilingual brain, requiring bilinguals to select the target language while avoiding interference from the unwanted language. This cross-language interference is similar to the within-language interference created by the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory paradigm (DRM; Roediger & McDermott, 1995, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21[4], 803-814). Although the mechanisms mediating false memory in the DRM paradigm remain an area of investigation, two of the more prominent theories-implicit associative response (IAR) and fuzzy trace-provide frameworks for using the DRM paradigm to advance our understanding of bilingual language processing. Three studies are reported comparing accuracy of monolingual and bilingual participants on different versions of the DRM. Study 1 presented lists of phonological associates and found that bilinguals showed higher rates of false recognition than did monolinguals. Study 2 used the standard semantic variant of the task and found that bilinguals showed lower false recognition rates than did monolinguals. Study 3 replicated and extended the findings in Experiment 2 in another semantic version of the task presented to younger and older adult monolingual and bilingual participants. These results are discussed within the frameworks of IAR and fuzzy-trace theories as further explicating differences between monolingual and bilingual processing.
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10
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Abstract
An important discovery in false-memory research is Israel and Schacter's (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 577-581, 1997) finding that presenting pictures at study relative to words alone reduces false memory in the DRM paradigm, a result that has been replicated many times. The standard interpretation is that memory for visual processing of the pictures can be used to reject the critical distractors, which were not explicitly present at study. Beginning from the empirical observation that the pictures used by Israel and Schacter are not consistently labelled with the DRM word they are supposed to represent, we present a series of four studies designed to determine if it is the presentation of pictures or the mismatch between the pictures and the words that reduces false memory. The results across the four experiments demonstrate that picture presentation at study is neither necessary nor sufficient to reduce false memory in the DRM and the categorical associate paradigms. However, we discuss other studies in which picture processing clearly is responsible for reduction of false alarms and note that these studies use study materials and memory tests that are different from the DRM and categorical associate paradigms in that critical lures are externally provided rather than generated. We speculate that the effectiveness of memory for visual processing for reducing false memory may depend on the source of the false memory, but this remains for future research.
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11
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Askey C, Playfoot D. Examining theories of cognitive ageing using the false memory paradigm. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 71:931-939. [DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2017.1307433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Askey
- Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
| | - David Playfoot
- Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
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12
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Burnside K, Hope C, Gill E, Morcom AM. Effects of perceptual similarity but not semantic association on false recognition in aging. PeerJ 2017; 5:e4184. [PMID: 29302398 PMCID: PMC5742526 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2017] [Accepted: 12/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
This study investigated semantic and perceptual influences on false recognition in older and young adults in a variant on the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. In two experiments, participants encoded intermixed sets of semantically associated words, and sets of unrelated words. Each set was presented in a shared distinctive font. Older adults were no more likely to falsely recognize semantically associated lure words compared to unrelated lures also presented in studied fonts. However, they showed an increase in false recognition of lures which were related to studied items only by a shared font. This increased false recognition was associated with recollective experience. The data show that older adults do not always rely more on prior knowledge in episodic memory tasks. They converge with other findings suggesting that older adults may also be more prone to perceptually-driven errors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Caroline Hope
- Edinburgh Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Emma Gill
- Edinburgh Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Alexa M. Morcom
- Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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13
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Martial C, Charland-Verville V, Dehon H, Laureys S. False memory susceptibility in coma survivors with and without a near-death experience. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2017; 82:806-818. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-017-0855-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2016] [Accepted: 03/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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14
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O'Neill M, Diana RA. The neurocognitive basis of borrowed context information. Cortex 2017; 91:89-100. [PMID: 28219653 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2016] [Revised: 10/25/2016] [Accepted: 01/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Falsely remembered items can be accompanied by episodic context retrieval. This finding is difficult to explain because there is no episode that binds the remembered item to the experimenter-controlled context features. The current study examines the neural correlates of false context retrieval when the context features can be traced to encoding episodes of semantically-similar items. Our neuroimaging results support a "dissociated source" mechanism for context borrowing in false memory. We found that parahippocampal cortex (PHc) activation, thought to indicate context retrieval, was greater during trials that involved context borrowing (an incorrect, but plausible source decision) than during baseline correct context retrieval. In contrast, hippocampal activation, thought to indicate retrieval of an episodic binding, was stronger during correct source retrieval than during context borrowing. Vivid context retrieval during false recollection experiences was also indicated by increased activation in visual perceptual regions for context borrowing as compared to other incorrect source judgments. The pattern of findings suggests that context borrowing can arise when unusually strong activation of a semantically-related item's contextual features drives relatively weak retrieval of the associated episodic binding with failure to confirm the item information within that binding. This dissociated source retrieval mechanism suggests that context-driven episodic retrieval does not necessarily lead to retrieval of specific item details. That is, source information can be retrieved in the absence of item memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meagan O'Neill
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, United States
| | - Rachel A Diana
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, United States.
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15
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Delhaye E, Bastin C. The impact of aging on associative memory for preexisting unitized associations. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2016; 25:70-98. [DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2016.1263725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Emma Delhaye
- Cycloton Research Center (GIGA-CRC) in vivo imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Christine Bastin
- Cycloton Research Center (GIGA-CRC) in vivo imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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16
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Turney IC, Dennis NA. Elucidating the neural correlates of related false memories using a systematic measure of perceptual relatedness. Neuroimage 2016; 146:940-950. [PMID: 27608601 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2016] [Revised: 09/01/2016] [Accepted: 09/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous memory research has exploited the perceptual similarities between lures and targets in order to evoke false memories. Nevertheless, while some studies have attempted to use lures that are objectively more similar than others, no study has systematically controlled for perceptual overlap between target and lure items and its role in accounting for false alarm rates or the neural processes underlying such perceptual false memories. The current study looked to fill this gap in the literature by using a face-morphing program to systematically control for the amount of perceptual overlap between lures and targets. Our results converge with previous studies in finding a pattern of differences between true and false memories. Most importantly, expanding upon this work, parametric analyses showed false memory activity increases with respect to the similarity between lures and targets within bilateral middle temporal gyri and right medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Moreover, this pattern of activation was unique to false memories and could not be accounted for by relatedness alone. Connectivity analyses further find that activity in the mPFC and left middle temporal gyrus co-vary, suggestive of gist-based monitoring within the context of false memories. Interestingly, neither the MTL nor the fusiform face area exhibited modulation as a function of target-lure relatedness. Overall, these results provide insight into the processes underlying false memories and further enhance our understanding of the role perceptual similarity plays in supporting false memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Indira C Turney
- The Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, 450 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Nancy A Dennis
- The Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, 450 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
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17
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Devitt AL, Schacter DL. False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings. Neuropsychologia 2016; 91:346-359. [PMID: 27592332 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.08.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2016] [Revised: 08/30/2016] [Accepted: 08/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
As we age we become increasingly susceptible to memory distortions and inaccuracies. Over the past decade numerous neuroimaging studies have attempted to illuminate the neural underpinnings of aging and false memory. Here we review these studies, and link their findings with those concerning the cognitive properties of age-related changes in memory accuracy. Collectively this evidence points towards a prominent role for age-related declines in medial temporal and prefrontal brain areas, and corresponding impairments in associative binding and strategic monitoring. A resulting cascade of cognitive changes contributes to the heightened vulnerability to false memories with age, including reduced recollective ability, a reliance on gist information and familiarity-based monitoring mechanisms, as well as a reduced ability to inhibit irrelevant information and erroneous binding of features between memory traces. We consider both theoretical and applied implications of research on aging and false memories, as well as questions remaining to be addressed in future research.
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19
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Abstract
Fuzzy-trace theory (FTT) emphasizes the use of core theoretical principles, such as the verbatim-gist distinction, to predict new findings about cognitive development that are counterintuitive from the perspective of other theories or of common-sense. To the extent that such predictions are confirmed, the range of phenomena that are explained expands without increasing the complexity of the theory's assumptions. We examine research on recent examples of such predictions during four epochs of cognitive development: childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and late adulthood. During the first two, the featured predictions are surprising developmental reversals in false memory (childhood) and in risky decision making (adolescence). During young adulthood, FTT predicts that a retrieval operation that figures centrally in dual-process theories of memory, recollection, is bivariate rather than univariate. During the late adulthood, FTT identifies a retrieval operation, reconstruction, that has been omitted from current theories of normal memory declines in aging and pathological declines in dementia. The theory predicts that reconstruction is a major factor in such declines and that it is able to forecast future dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- C J Brainerd
- Department of Human Development and Human Neuroscience Institute, Cornell University
| | - Valerie F Reyna
- Department of Human Development and Human Neuroscience Institute, Cornell University
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20
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Smith RE, Hunt RR, Dunlap KR. Why do pictures, but not visual words, reduce older adults' false memories? Psychol Aging 2015. [PMID: 26213799 DOI: 10.1037/pag0000044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Prior work shows that false memories resulting from the study of associatively related lists are reduced for both young and older adults when the auditory presentation of study list words is accompanied by related pictures relative to when auditory word presentation is combined with visual presentation of the word. In contrast, young adults, but not older adults, show a reduction in false memories when presented with the visual word along with the auditory word relative to hearing the word only. In both cases of pictures relative to visual words and visual words relative to auditory words alone, the benefit of picture and visual words in reducing false memories has been explained in terms of monitoring for perceptual information. In our first experiment, we provide the first simultaneous comparison of all 3 study presentation modalities (auditory only, auditory plus visual word, and auditory plus picture). Young and older adults show a reduction in false memories in the auditory plus picture condition, but only young adults show a reduction in the visual word condition relative to the auditory only condition. A second experiment investigates whether older adults fail to show a reduction in false memory in the visual word condition because they do not encode perceptual information in the visual word condition. In addition, the second experiment provides evidence that the failure of older adults to show the benefits of visual word presentation is related to reduced cognitive resources. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebekah E Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio
| | - R Reed Hunt
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio
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Pitarque A, Sales A, Meléndez JC, Algarabel S. Repetition increases false recollection in older people. Scand J Psychol 2014; 56:38-44. [DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2014] [Accepted: 09/04/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alfonso Pitarque
- Department of Psychology-Methodology; University of Valencia; Avda Blasco Ibanez, 21 46010 Valencia Spain
| | - Alicia Sales
- Department of Psychology-Methodology; University of Valencia; Avda Blasco Ibanez, 21 46010 Valencia Spain
| | - Juan Carlos Meléndez
- Department of Psychology-Methodology; University of Valencia; Avda Blasco Ibanez, 21 46010 Valencia Spain
| | - Salvador Algarabel
- Department of Psychology-Methodology; University of Valencia; Avda Blasco Ibanez, 21 46010 Valencia Spain
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Abstract
Two experiments examined the effects of forward associative strength (FAS) and backward associative strength (BAS) on false recollection of unstudied lure items. Themes were constructed such that four associates were strongly related to a lure item in terms of FAS or BAS and four associates were weakly related to a lure item in terms of FAS or BAS. Further, when FAS was manipulated, BAS was controlled across strong and weak associates, while FAS was controlled across strong and weak associates when BAS was manipulated. Strong associates were presented in one font while weak associates were presented in a second font. At test, lure items were disproportionately attributed to the source used to present lures' strong associates compared to lures' weak associates, both when BAS was manipulated and when FAS was manipulated. This outcome demonstrates that both BAS and FAS influence lure item false recollection, which favours global-matching models' explanation of false recollection over the explanation offered by spreading activation theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason Arndt
- a Department of Psychology , Middlebury College , Middlebury , VT , USA
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Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of post-learning sleep and sleep architecture on false memory in healthy older adults. DESIGN Balanced, crossover design. False memory was induced using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm and assessed following nocturnal sleep and following a period of daytime wakefulness. Post-learning sleep structure was evaluated using polysomnography (PSG). SETTING Sleep research laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Fourteen healthy older adults from the Singapore-Longitudinal Aging Brain Study (mean age ± standard deviation = 66.6 ± 4.1 y; 7 males). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS At encoding, participants studied lists of words that were semantically related to non-presented critical lures. At retrieval, they made "remember"/"know" and "new" judgments. Compared to wakefulness, post-learning sleep was associated with reduced "remember" responses, but not "know" responses to critical lures. In contrast, there were no significant differences in the veridical recognition of studied words, false recognition of unrelated distractors, discriminability, or response bias between the sleep and the wake conditions. More post-learning slow wave sleep was associated with greater reduction in false memory. CONCLUSIONS In healthy older adults, sleep facilitates the reduction in false memory without affecting veridical memory. This benefit correlates with the amount of slow wave sleep in the post-learning sleep episode.
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Affiliation(s)
- June C Lo
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders Program, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore
| | - Sam K Y Sim
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders Program, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore
| | - Michael W L Chee
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders Program, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore
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Carr VA, Castel AD, Knowlton BJ. Age-related differences in memory after attending to distinctiveness or similarity during learning. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2014; 22:155-69. [DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2014.898735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Gallo DA. Retrieval Expectations Affect False Recollection: Insights from a Criterial Recollection Task. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2013; 22:316-323. [PMID: 24659863 DOI: 10.1177/0963721413481472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
People use retrieval expectations to guide the accuracy of recollection attempts. This retrieval monitoring process minimizes illusory or false recollection, especially when the to-be-remembered events are distinctive. Our work with a criterial recollection task reveals that this monitoring process primarily depends on qualitative features of recollected information, an aspect of memory that can be dissociated from traditional measures of recollection frequency and familiarity. Neuroimaging and brain damage studies further indicate that this monitoring process relies on prefrontal regions that coordinate memory retrieval. This research helps explain why older adults are sometimes more susceptible to false recollection. More generally, this research highlights the importance of different kinds of recollected events and corresponding retrieval expectations in determining memory accuracy.
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Fandakova Y, Shing YL, Lindenberger U. High-confidence memory errors in old age: The roles of monitoring and binding processes. Memory 2013; 21:732-50. [DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2012.756038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Giammattei J, Arndt J. Hemispheric asymmetries in the activation and monitoring of memory errors. Brain Cogn 2012; 80:7-14. [PMID: 22626917 PMCID: PMC3408826 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2012.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2011] [Revised: 02/18/2012] [Accepted: 04/07/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeannette Giammattei
- Department of Psychology, 5605 Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753, United States
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Schmitz R, Dehon H, Peigneux P. Lateralized processing of false memories and pseudoneglect in aging. Cortex 2012; 49:1314-24. [PMID: 22818903 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2011] [Revised: 04/27/2012] [Accepted: 06/19/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Aging is associated with higher propensity to false memories and decreased retrieval of previously studied items. When young adults (YA) perform on a lateralized version of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, the right cerebral hemisphere (RH) is more sensitive than the left (LH) to false memories, suggesting hemispheric imbalance in the cerebral mechanisms supporting semantic and episodic memory processes. Since cerebral asymmetries tend to be reduced with age, we surmised that behavioral asymmetries in the generation of false memories would be diminished with aging. To probe this hypothesis, a lateralized version of the DRM paradigm was administered to healthy older adults (OA) and YA. During the encoding phase, lists of semantically associated words were memorized. During the retrieval session, targets (previously seen words), lures (LU) (never seen strongly semantically related words) and distracters (never seen, unrelated words) were briefly displayed either in the left or right visual fields, thus primarily stimulating the RH or LH, respectively. Participants had to decide whether the word was previously studied (Old/New), but also whether they had a strong episodic recollection (Remember) or a mere feeling of familiarity (Know) about Old words. In line with our predictions, false memories were globally higher in OA than YA, and vivid false recollections (i.e., Remember responses) were higher when LU were presented in the RH in YA, but not in OA. Additionally, we found significant correlations between YA participants' Familiarity scores and leftward attentional bias as previously evidenced using a visuospatial landmark task (Schmitz and Peigneux, 2011), an effect not present in OA. This result is in line with the hypothesis of an interplay between attentional resources allocated to visuospatial and memory processes, suggesting a memory pseudoneglect phenomenon that would be altered with aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rémy Schmitz
- UR2NF [Unité de Recherches en Neuropsychologie et Neuroimagerie Fonctionnelle], Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus du Solbosch CP191, Brussels, Belgium
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31
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Abstract
False memories occur when individuals mistakenly report an event as having taken place when that event did not in fact occur. The DRM (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) paradigm provides an effective technique for creating and investigating false memories. In this paradigm participants study a list of words (e.g., SOUR, CANDY,…) that are highly associated to a non-presented critical item (e.g., SWEET). The study phase is followed by a test of memory for the study list words. Researchers typically find very high levels of false recall of the critical non-presented item. However, the likelihood of falsely remembering the non-presented critical items can be reduced by presenting studied associates visually rather than auditorally (e.g., Smith & Hunt, 1998). This is referred to as the modality effect in false memory. The current study investigated the role of resource availability in the expression of this modality effect in false recall. In Experiment 1 false recall was reduced in the visual study presentation condition relative to the auditory condition for participants with higher working memory capacity, but not for participants with lower working memory capacity. In Experiment 2 the effect of study modality on false recall was eliminated by the addition of a divided attention task at encoding. Both studies support the proposal that resource availability plays a role in the expression of the modality effect in the DRM paradigm (Smith, Lozito, & Bayen, 2005).
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebekah E Smith
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, TX 78249, USA.
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Dissociative effects of phonological vs. semantic associates on recognition memory in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2011; 137:269-79. [PMID: 21377636 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2011.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2009] [Revised: 12/02/2010] [Accepted: 01/31/2011] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Using a variation of the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm in four experiments, we examined hit rate, false alarm rate, and memory discriminability (d') for critical items (e.g., sleep) after their semantic associates (e.g., dream, rest, and awake), phonological associates (e.g., bleep, sheep, and cheap) or unrelated items were studied. Replicating previous research (e.g., Neely & Tse, 2007), d' was lower for critical items than for yoked associates in semantic lists. However, d' was higher for critical items than for yoked associates in phonological lists, even when the same critical items were used for these two list types. The memory discriminability of critical items was enhanced by phonological lists via a larger increase in their hit rates than in their false alarm rates, relative to the same critical items in lists of unrelated words. These findings (a) could not be fully accounted for by the activation-based theories proposed in the false memory literature, and (b) may suggest that the memory discriminabilities of semantic and phonological lists are modulated by two distinct activation mechanisms.
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Age-related changes in neural activity associated with familiarity, recollection and false recognition. Neurobiol Aging 2010; 31:1814-30. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2008.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2008] [Revised: 09/17/2008] [Accepted: 09/25/2008] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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35
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The persistence of inferences in memory for younger and older adults: remembering facts and believing inferences. Psychon Bull Rev 2010; 17:73-81. [PMID: 20081164 DOI: 10.3758/pbr.17.1.73] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Research shows that younger adults have difficulty forgetting inferences that they make after reading a passage, even if the information that the inferences are based on is later shown to be untrue. The present study examined the effects of these inferences on memory in the lab and tested whether older adults, like younger adults, are influenced by the lingering effects of false inferences. In addition, this study examined the nature of these inferences, by examining younger and older adults' subjective experiences and confidence associated with factual recall and incorrect inference recall. The results showed that younger and older adults were equally susceptible to the continued influence of inferences. Both younger and older adults tended to remember facts from the stories but to believe their inferences, although confidence judgments did not differ for facts and inferences.
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Gallo DA, Foster KT, Johnson EL. Elevated false recollection of emotional pictures in young and older adults. Psychol Aging 2010; 24:981-8. [PMID: 20025411 DOI: 10.1037/a0017545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Current theories predict opposing effects of emotionally arousing information on false memory. If emotion enhances true recollection, then false recollection might be lower for emotional than for neutral pictures. However, if emotion enhances conceptual relatedness, then false recollection might increase for nonstudied but emotionally related pictures. We contrasted these 2 factors in young and older adults, using the International Affective Pictures Systems set (Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2005). Although both age groups used recollection in our task, false recollection was greatest for emotional pictures, supporting a conceptual relatedness account. Finally, even after accuracy differences were controlled, age was related to high-confidence false recollection of emotional pictures.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A Gallo
- Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
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37
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Sanford LC, Fisk JE. How does the extraversion personality trait influence false recall with the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm? JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 2009. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2009.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Sugrue K, Strange D, Hayne H. False memories in the DRM paradigm: age-related differences in lure activation and source monitoring. Exp Psychol 2009; 56:354-60. [PMID: 19447751 DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169.56.5.354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Prior research using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm has shown that participants are more likely to report the critical lures when long lists are presented. In this experiment, we evaluated two potential explanations for this list-length effect. Ten-year-old children and adults studied 7- or 14-word lists. After recalling each list, participants were then asked to report any other words that they had thought about, but had not reported, during the recall phase. We found that long lists were more likely to activate the critical lure and that short lists did not facilitate source monitoring. On the basis of our findings, we conclude that, for both age groups, the list-length effect was due primarily to list-related differences in activation of the critical lure.
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Marche TA, Brainerd CJ, Reyna VF. Distinguishing true from false memories in forensic contexts: Can phenomenology tell us what is real? APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2009. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.1629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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40
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Abstract
A number of previous studies have shown that false recognition of critical items in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm is reduced when study items are presented visually rather than auditorily; however, this effect has not been uniformly demonstrated. We investigated three potential boundary conditions of the effect of study modality in false recognition. Experiments 1 and 2 showed no reduction in false recognition following visual study presentation when the yes-no recognition test was not preceded by a recall test. Experiment 3 showed that visual study presentation can reduce false recognition without a preceding recall test, if the recognition test uses remember-know instructions. The order of the recognition test items did not influence the effect of visual study presentation on false recognition in Experiment 1. In general, the data imply that distinctive processing at study can reduce false memory in recognition if the test demands draw attention to the dimension of distinctive processing.
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McCabe DP, Roediger HL, McDaniel MA, Balota DA. Aging reduces veridical remembering but increases false remembering: neuropsychological test correlates of remember-know judgments. Neuropsychologia 2008; 47:2164-73. [PMID: 19100756 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.11.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2008] [Revised: 09/04/2008] [Accepted: 11/21/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
In 1985 Tulving introduced the remember-know procedure, whereby subjects are asked to distinguish between memories that involve retrieval of contextual details (remembering) and memories that do not (knowing). Several studies have been reported showing age-related declines in remember hits, which has typically been interpreted as supporting dual-process theories of cognitive aging that align remembering with a recollection process and knowing with a familiarity process. Less attention has been paid to remember false alarms, or their relation to age. We reviewed the literature examining aging and remember/know judgments and show that age-related increases in remember false alarms, i.e., false remembering, are as reliable as age-related decreases in remember hits, i.e., veridical remembering. Moreover, a meta-analysis showed that the age effect size for remember hits and false alarms are similar, and larger than age effects on know hits and false alarms. We also show that the neuropsychological correlates of remember hits and false alarms differ. Neuropsychological tests of medial-temporal lobe functioning were related to remember hits, but tests of frontal-lobe functioning and age were not. By contrast, age and frontal-lobe functioning predicted unique variance in remember false alarms, but MTL functioning did not. We discuss various explanations for these findings and conclude that any comprehensive explanation of recollective experience will need to account for the processes underlying both remember hits and false alarms.
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Affiliation(s)
- David P McCabe
- Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1876, USA.
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43
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Retrieval-based illusory recollections: Why study-test contextual changes impair source memory. Mem Cognit 2007; 35:1211-21. [DOI: 10.3758/bf03193595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Hicks JL, Starns JJ. Remembering source evidence from associatively related items: explanations from a global matching model. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2006; 32:1164-73. [PMID: 16938053 DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.32.5.1164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The authors tested source memory across three conditions, one in which 3 strongly associated primes of a target word were presented in the same source as the target, one in which primes were presented in a different source than the target, and one in which no associates of targets were encoded. In the first 2 experiments, target source memory increased in the same-prime condition and decreased in the different-prime condition relative to the no-prime condition. In Experiment 3, the different-prime condition created the illusion that target words had been presented in both sources at encoding. The MINERVA 2 model (D. L. Hintzman, 1988) was able to predict these effects by basing source decisions on the global match of source-specific retrieval probes to all of the items in the memory set.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason L Hicks
- Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-5501, USA.
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Abstract
The authors examined effects of age-related binding deficits on feature information in false memories for imagined objects (e.g., lollipop) that were similar in shape to seen objects (e.g., magnifying glass). In Experiment 1, location memory for seen objects was lower in older than younger adults and lower still in old-old than young-old adults. Imagined objects, when falsely called seen, were less likely to be attributed to the location of similar seen objects (i.e., congruent attributions) by old-old than young-old adults. In Experiment 2, for younger adults, displaying seen objects for less time (1 s vs. 4 s) reduced both location memory for seen objects and congruent attributions for false memories. Thus, binding deficits may influence the specific content of false memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keith B Lyle
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
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Light LL, Chung C, Pendergrass R, Van Ocker JC. Effects of repetition and response deadline on item recognition in young and older adults. Mem Cognit 2006; 34:335-43. [PMID: 16752597 DOI: 10.3758/bf03193411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In the present study, we examined the joint effects of aging, repetition, and response deadline in a plurality discrimination task. Young and older adults studied lists of unrelated singular and plural nouns, with half presented once (weak items) and half presented five times (strong items). Test lists contained old (same) nouns, plurality-reversed nouns (changed lures), and unstudied nouns (new lures), and the participants were asked to respond old only to same items. In Experiment 1, the participants were tested with both short and long deadlines. In Experiment 2, the tests were unpaced. In both experiments, repetition increased hit rates for young and older adults. Young adults tested with a long deadline or no deadline showed invariant (Experiment 1) or reduced (Experiment 2) false alarms to changed lures when the nouns were studied more often. Young adults tested with a short deadline and older adults tested with both long and short deadlines had increased false alarm rates for strong changed lures; without time pressure to respond, older adults did not have a significant increase in false alarms for changed lures. Implications of these results for theories of cognitive aging are explored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leah L Light
- Department of Psychology, Pitzer College, Claremont, California 91711, USA.
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Geraci L, McCabe DP. Examining the basis for illusory recollection: The role of remember/know instructions. Psychon Bull Rev 2006; 13:466-73. [PMID: 17048732 DOI: 10.3758/bf03193871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Curiously, studies using the remember/know paradigm to measure recollective experience show that people often vividly remember events that never occurred, a phenomenon referred to as illusory recollection. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that false remember responses in the converging associates, or Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, reflect accurate memory for the study episode, rather than false recollection of critical lures. To test this hypothesis, we used standard remember instructions that emphasized recollection of the study context by allowing participants to use memory of surrounding list items as evidence for recollection, or we used modified instructions that did not include memory for surrounding list items as a basis for recollection. Results showed that, as compared with the standard instruction condition, the modified instructions selectively reduced reports of false remember responses to critical lures, but did not affect remember responses to studied items. By contrast, remember responses to critical lures were unaffected by an instruction condition that excluded the use of voice information as evidence for remembering. These results suggest that remember responses to falsely recognized items are driven partly by retrieval of studied items, rather than illusory recollection of the critical lures themselves. They further point to the importance of instructions in influencing subjective reports.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Geraci
- Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4235, USA.
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Verfaellie M, Page K, Orlando F, Schacter DL. Impaired implicit memory for gist information in amnesia. Neuropsychology 2006; 19:760-9. [PMID: 16351351 DOI: 10.1037/0894-4105.19.6.760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
In 2 experiments using a converging associates paradigm, the authors evaluated implicit memory for gist information in amnesic patients. In Experiment 1, participants saw multiple sets of associates, each converging on a nonpresented theme word, and were then tested using an implicit word stem completion test and an explicit cued recall test. Amnesic patients showed intact implicit and impaired explicit memory for studied words, but memory for nonpresented lures was impaired, regardless of retrieval instructions. To evaluate whether impaired implicit memory for lures was due to accelerated forgetting of gist information, short study lists were used in Experiment 2, each consisting of a single set of associates. Amnesics' implicit memory for lures was again impaired. These results point to an inability to encode robust gist representations as the cause of impaired gist memory in amnesia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mieke Verfaellie
- Memory Disorders Research Center, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston VA Healthcare System, MA 02130, USA.
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Lampinen JM, Meier CR, Arnal JD, Leding JK. Compelling untruths: content borrowing and vivid false memories. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2006; 31:954-63. [PMID: 16248744 DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.31.5.954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
False memories are sometimes accompanied by surprisingly vivid experiential detail that makes them difficult to distinguish from actual memories. Such strikingly real false memories may be produced by a process called content borrowing in which details from presented items are errantly borrowed to corroborate the occurrence of the false memory item. In 2 experiments using think-out-loud protocols at both study and test, evidence for content borrowing occurred for more than half of the false remember judgments participants reported. The present study also provides evidence consistent with recollection rejection and distinctiveness playing a role in false-memory editing.
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