False recall and false memory: the effects of instructions on memory errors

An experiment is reported using a list-learning paradigm in which all the words have a common associate, which is known to be frequently but erroneously recalled. Four experimental conditions were used. One group was instructed to think about the meanings of the words, another to relate them to personal experience, another to create images of the words, and another to chain the words into a sentence. Both thinking about the meaning and chaining increased recall of the words actually presented, but in none of the conditions was there any effect on false recall. The implications and relevance of these findings to the controversy over false memories are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.