False memories synonym series#

Not only is the non-presented critical item frequently remembered, in some cases at the same rate as studied items, confidence in that false memory tends to be high (Lampinen, Neuschatz, & Payne, 1997 Payne, Elie, Blackwell, & Neuschatz, 1996 Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Research to date has produced a considerable body of useful information about this form of false memory. The challenge for memory is discriminating presented material from self-generated material. In addition to providing a simple, reliable technique for producing false memory, the DRM paradigm has face validity as a good model for the effect of inference on memory, in that the critical non-presented item comes to mind during presentation of the study list, similar to an inference coming to mind in comprehension.

Both recognition and recall tests for the studied items reliably yield false memory for the critical non-presented item. The now familiar laboratory preparation entails presentation of words for study that are all related to the same critical word, which itself is not presented. Roediger and McDermott’s ( 1995) resurrection of Deese’s ( 1959) associated word list paradigm (DRM) initiated a flurry of research activity on false memory. 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. 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. 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.

False memories synonym series#

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 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. 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.