List blocking and longer retention intervals reveal an influence of gist processing for lexically ambiguous critical lures

Item-specific encoding reduces false recognition of homograph and implicit mediated critical lures

We evaluated the effects of item-specific and relational encoding instructions on false recognition for critical lures that originated from homograph and mediated study lists. Homograph lists contained list items that were taken from two meanings of the same critical lure (e.g., autumn, trip, harvest, stumble; for fall) which disrupted thematic/gist consistency of the list. Mediated lists contained unrelated list items (e.g., slippery, spicy, vent, sleigh) that were indirectly related to a critical lure (e.g., cold), through a set of non-presented mediators (e.g., wet, hot, air, snow), and had no thematic/gist consistency. In two experiments, item-specific and relational encoding improved correct recognition relative to a read-only control task, but only item-specific encoding reduced false recognition of critical lures. Signal-detection analyses indicated that the item-specific reduction increased test-based monitoring. The item-specific reduction for homograph and mediated critical lures is consistent with the activation-monitoring framework given gist-based processes are reduced or eliminated on these list types.

The effect of early list manipulations on the DRM illusion

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm is widely used to study false memory in the laboratory. It tests memory for lists of semantically related words (correct list item memories) and their non-presented associates (false lure memories). Evidence suggests that early items in DRM lists could make an especially significant contribution to false memories of lures, as they may critically influence the underlying associative activation and/or gist extraction processes. The present study tested this suggestion by using two manipulations that were intended to affect processing of early DRM list items. The first was interpolation of a semantically unrelated distractor item among the list items (Experiments 1 and 2). The second was arranging for these items to be either the strongest or weakest associates of the lure (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, a distractor item reduced both list item and lure recall when presented early in a DRM list, but selectively disrupted list item recall when presented late in the list. In Experiment 2, arranging for the early list items to be the weakest associates of the lure reduced false recall of the lure but had no effect on list item recall. The findings are discussed with respect to theories that explain false memory in the DRM protocol, including fuzzy trace theory (FTT) and activation-monitoring theory (AMT). They are also discussed with respect to general theories of memory and the potential role of category/context information in generating false memories.

Reducing False Recognition in the Deese-Roediger/McDermott Paradigm: Related Lures Reveal How Distinctive Encoding Improves Encoding and Monitoring Processes

In the Deese-Roediger/McDermott (DRM) paradigm, distinctive encoding of list items typically reduces false recognition of critical lures relative to a read-only control. This reduction can be due to enhanced item-specific processing, reduced relational processing, and/or increased test-based monitoring. However, it is unclear whether distinctive encoding reduces false recognition in a selective or global manner. To examine this question, participants studied DRM lists using a distinctive item-specific anagram generation task and then completed a recognition test which included both DRM critical lures and either strongly related lures (Experiment 1) or weakly related lures (Experiment 2). Compared to a read-control group, the generate groups showed increased correct recognition and decreased false recognition of all lure types. We then estimated the separate contributions of encoding and retrieval processes using signal-detection indices. Generation improved correct recognition by both increasing encoding of memory information for list words and by increasing memory monitoring at test. Generation reduced false recognition by reducing the encoding of memory information and by increasing memory monitoring at test. The reduction in false recognition was equivalent for critical lures and related lures, indicating that generation globally reduces the encoding of related non-presented items at study (not just critical lures), while globally increasing list-theme-based monitoring at test.

Item-specific and relational processing both improve recall accuracy in the DRM paradigm

Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, Huff and Bodner found that both item-specific and relational variants of a task improved correct recognition, but only the item-specific variants reduced false recognition, relative to a read-control condition. Here, we examined the outcome pattern when memory was tested using free recall, using the same item-specific versus relational task variants across three experiments as our previous study (processing instructions, pleasantness ratings, anagram generation). The outcome pattern in recall was similar to recognition, except relational processing at study actually reduced the DRM illusion, though not as much as item-specific processing. To reconcile this task difference, we suggest that the memory information laid down during relational encoding enhances the familiarity of the critical items at test. To the extent that familiarity is used less as a basis for responding in free recall than in recognition, relational processing ironically reduces rather than increases the DRM illusion in recall.

Effects of survival processing and retention interval on true and false recognition in the DRM and category repetition paradigms

Two experiments examined the effects of survival processing and delay on true and related false recognition. Experiment 1 used the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm and found survival processing to increase true and related false recognition. Extending the delay from 5-mins to 1-day reduced true, but not false memory. Measures of the characteristics of true and false memories showed survival processing increased "remember" and "know" responses for related false memory, "know" responses for true memory and gist processing. Experiment 2 made use of the category repetition procedure and found a broadly similar pattern of results for true memory. However, related false memory was decreased by survival processing. Except for one result, no interactions were found between encoding task and delay. Overall, survival processing produced similar or different effects on true/false memory depending on the nature of the list. The mechanisms that might underpin these are evaluated and considered in relation to future work.

Assessing Boundary Conditions of the Testing Effect: On the Relative Efficacy of Covert vs. Overt Retrieval

Repeated testing during learning often improves later memory, which is often referred to as the testing effect. To clarify its boundary conditions, we examined whether the testing effect was selectively affected by covert (retrieved but not articulated) or overt (retrieved and articulated) response format. In Experiments 1 and 2, we compared immediate (5 min) and delayed (1 week) cued recall for paired associates following study-only, covert, and overt conditions, including two types of overt articulation (typing and writing). A clear testing effect was observed in both experiments, but with no selective effects of response format. In Experiments 3 and 4, we compared covert and overt retrieval under blocked and random list orders. The effect sizes were small in both experiments, but there was a significant effect of response format, with overt retrieval showing better final recall performance than covert retrieval. There were no significant effects of blocked vs. random list orders with respect to the testing effect produced. Taken together, these findings suggest that, under specific circumstances, overt retrieval may lead to a greater testing effect than that of covert retrieval, but because of small effect sizes, it appears that the testing effect is mainly the result of retrieval processes and that articulation has fairly little to add to its magnitude in a paired-associates learning paradigm.

How Fuzzy-Trace Theory Predicts True and False Memories for Words, Sentences, and Narratives

Fuzzy-trace theory posits independent verbatim and gist memory processes, a distinction that has implications for such applied topics as eyewitness testimony. This distinction between precise, literal verbatim memory and meaning-based, intuitive gist accounts for memory paradoxes including dissociations between true and false memory, false memories outlasting true memories, and developmental increases in false memory. We provide an overview of fuzzy-trace theory, and, using mathematical modeling, also present results demonstrating verbatim and gist memory in true and false recognition of narrative sentences and inferences. Results supported fuzzy-trace theory's dual-process view of memory: verbatim memory was relied on to reject meaning-consistent, but unpresented, sentences (via recollection rejection). However, verbatim memory was often not retrieved, and gist memory supported acceptance of these sentences (via similarity judgment and phantom recollection). Thus, mathematical models of words can be extended to explain memory for complex stimuli, such as narratives, the kind of memory interrogated in law.