Chapter 1. False Memory

1.1 Introduction

This experiment is a replication of one performed by Roediger and McDermott (1995) in which they were able to demonstrate that individuals can be influenced to recognize items they have not seen previously by showing them a number of semantically related items. They used thematically related word lists previously employed in a study by Deese (1959) to influence participants to retrieve information from memory that was not presented to them. The study was one of a number of studies that led to a greater understanding of the plasticity of our memory processes and how encoding and retrieval cues can influence this ability. (See The Misinformation Effect, based on Loftus and Chance (1974), for another example.) This study is considered part of a subfield of memory research called constructive memory because it concerns creating memories for material that has not been previously encountered.

Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 803-814.

Deese, J. (1959). On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 17-22.

Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (1999). False alarms and false memories. Psychological Review, 106(2), 406-410.

1.2 Experiment Setup

Figure 1.1

1.3 Instructions

You will need to press the space bar to begin the experiment. A fixation mark will then appear in the center of the screen. Please focus on this mark. After a brief pause, six words will appear, one by one, in the center of the screen. There will be six blocks of six words each. After each block, you will be given a recall test in which you will be asked to produce from memory as many of the words you just saw as you can. At the end of all six blocks, there will be a recognition test for all of the lists in which you will be presented words previously seen, as well as words that were not previously presented. You will be asked whether you saw the word during the earlier portion of the experiment.

Keyboard Responses

For recall tests:

Type in the words you remember using the keyboard.

For recognition tests:

1.4 Experiment

Figure 1.2

1.5 Results

Figure 1.3

1.6 Quiz