Does collaborative remembering reduce false memories?

Collaborative remembering refers to recall by groups rather than by an individual. Three experiments investigated whether, relative to individual remembering, collaborative remembering decreased correct recall and false recall using the Deese‐Roediger‐McDermott paradigm. Participants were first asked to study and recall five lists of 15 words that were each semantically associated with a critical non‐presented word. Half the participants recalled the words by themselves, while the remaining half were assigned to pairs and collaboratively recalled the words. In Experiment 1, pairs produced the same number of false or correct words as individuals who were tested alone. In Experiment 2, the interpersonal closeness of the groups was also manipulated: friends and pairs who were not friends were assigned to the collaborative groups. Both friends and non‐friends produced fewer false or correct words than individuals. Experiment 3, in which the performance of the individuals and non‐friend pairs were compared using a recall test of the same 75 words as the previous experiments, replicated the results of Experiment 2. These results are discussed in terms of the retrieval‐strategy disruption.     

How similar is false recognition to veridical recognition objectively and subjectively?

Three recognition memory experiments were conducted using modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) and DRM paradigms. In Experiment 1, the reaction time (RT) of the false alarms to critical nonpresented words (false memory) was compared with the RT of hits to the critical presented words and with the RT of hits to the studied list words (true memory). The RT of the false alarms to the critical nonpresented words was significantly longer than that of the hits to the critical words and than that of the studied list words. In Experiment 2, in addition to RT, participants' confidence level was measured on a 4-point scale for a yes or no response. Confidence rating was significantly higher for the hits to the critical presented words and to the list words than for the false alarms to the critical non-presented words. Experiment 3 further showed that how similar false memory experience was to that of true memory was a function of retention size (number of lists of words retained in memory). In all three experiments, the participants' recognition RTs distinguished false memory from veridical memory, and in Experiments 2 and 3, so did their confidence ratings. Therefore, false memory and veridical memory differ at both the objective and the subjective levels. The results are consistent with a single familiarity dimension model of recognition memory.     

Do 10-month-old infants understand others' false beliefs?

As adults, we know that others’ mental states, such as beliefs, guide their behavior and that these mental states can deviate from reality. Researchers have examined whether young children possess adult-like theory of mind by focusing on their understanding about others’ false beliefs. The present research revealed that 10-month-old infants seemed to interpret a person’s choice of toys based on her true or false beliefs about which toys were present. These results indicate that like adults, even preverbal infants act as if they can consider others’ mental states when making inferences about others’ actions.     

Phonetic-semantic mediated false recognition: does activation fail to spread?

Spoken word recognition involves brief activation of candidate words. Six experiments examined whether words semantically related to phonologically activated words would be falsely recognized. Experiments 1 and 2 involved homophones as test words; Experiment 3 used strong associates for the semantic mediation link. Experiment 4 approximated lists of "strong" converging associates. Experiment 5 expanded the real time needed for word identification by using a gating procedure during study. In Experiment 6, the goal was to create a more sensitive test by requiring participants to indicate which of two lures (mediated or control) was "most likely" to be new. Recognition errors were sensitive to separate phonetic and semantic stages in the mediated chain; however, there was little evidence of mediated false recognition, despite expectations derived from common models of spreading activation.     

Do realistic reverberation levels reduce auditory distraction?

Acoustically treated ceilings and wall panels can be used as part of a strategy to reduce the impact of background sound on the health and performance of employees by decreasing the reverberation times of the office noise. In this article we examine the impact of two reverberation times upon task performance. A cognitive task known to be a sensitive index of auditory distraction (serial recall) was used to assess the degree of distraction associated with two types of ceiling: a hard ceiling, such as plasterboard, and a soft ceiling, such as an acoustically treated ceiling. Office noise (in the range 65–75 dB (A)) was found generally to be disruptive relative to a quiet control condition but there was no difference in performance with regard to the ceiling types. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can intentional forgetting reduce false memory? Effects of list-level and item-level forgetting

This study examined whether false memory produced by the learning of lists of categorized and associative materials could be reduced by directed forgetting. The number of items within a list that participants were asked to remember or forget was manipulated, while the length of the list remained constant. Experiment 1a used categorized lists and Experiment 1b used associative lists; the participants performed immediate free recall and cued recall tests. For both the categorized and associative lists, the rate of false recall increased upon increasing the proportion of "forget" (F) words. After removing the immediate recall test, Experiment 2 found that intentionally forgetting part of the studied list reduced false memory, whereas forgetting the whole studied list did not. The results are discussed in terms of the list-level-vs.-item-level inhibition in semantic activation and the role of monitoring in reducing false memory.     

Do warnings of response verification moderate the relationship between personality and cognitive ability?

This article presents the results of 2 studies that examine the effect of presenting a warning of response verification by others on the relationship between measures of personality and cognitive ability. In both a field study and a laboratory study, stronger correlations were generally found between measures of personality and cognitive ability when a warning of verification was present. The results from the studies also showed that the warning of verification was associated with slower item response latencies for certain personality scales, suggesting that exposure to the warning increased the complexity of the response decision. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of altering test instructions on the construct validity of personality measures used in applied settings.     

Do conjunction errors in auditory recognition imply feature migration?

It has recently been proposed that the feature values (e.g., pitch, duration, etc.) of tones are processed in separate perceptual channels and are later reintegrated to form the experience of a unitary percept. Patterns of errors in recognizing combinations of auditory features have been taken as failures of, and thus evidence for, an auditory feature-integration process. We outline an alternative interpretation of these effects based on similarity structure of the stimuli.     

Erratum: Do realistic reverberation levels reduce auditory distraction?

The above article (DOI: 10.1002/acp.1300 ) was published online in Early View on 29 September 2006. The initial online publication of this article omitted the second author's name. The correct author names and affiliations are reproduced below: NICK PERHAM^1*, SIMON BANBURY¹ and DYLAN M. JONES^{1,2 1}School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK ²Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia     

Do handwritten words magnify lexical effects in visual word recognition?

An examination of how the word recognition system is able to process handwritten words is fundamental to formulate a comprehensive model of visual word recognition. Previous research has revealed that the magnitude of lexical effects (e.g., the word-frequency effect) is greater with handwritten words than with printed words. In the present lexical decision experiments, we examined whether the quality of handwritten words moderates the recruitment of top-down feedback, as reflected in word-frequency effects. Results showed a reading cost for difficult-to-read and easy-to-read handwritten words relative to printed words. But the critical finding was that difficult-to-read handwritten words, but not easy-to-read handwritten words, showed a greater word-frequency effect than printed words. Therefore, the inherent physical variability of handwritten words does not necessarily boost the magnitude of lexical effects.     

Do subitizing deficits in developmental dyscalculia involve pattern recognition weakness?

The abilities of children diagnosed with developmental dyscalculia (DD) were examined in two types of object enumeration: subitizing, and small estimation (5–9 dots). Subitizing is usually defined as a fast and accurate assessment of a number of small dots (range 1 to 4 dots), and estimation is an imprecise process to assess a large number of items (range 5 dots or more). Based on reaction time (RT) and accuracy analysis, our results indicated a deficit in the subitizing and small estimation range among DD participants in relation to controls. There are indications that subitizing is based on pattern recognition, thus presenting dots in a canonical shape in the estimation range should result in a subitizing‐like pattern. In line with this theory, our control group presented a subitizing‐like pattern in the small estimation range for canonically arranged dots, whereas the DD participants presented a deficit in the estimation of canonically arranged dots. The present finding indicates that pattern recognition difficulties may play a significant role in both subitizing and subitizing deficits among those with DD.     

“Do I Know You?” Altering hairstyle affects facial recognition

Background: Research has demonstrated that both internal features (e.g., eyes) and external features (e.g., hair) are important for recognizing unfamiliar faces; however, the impact of altering hairstyle on the recognition of unfamiliar faces has yet to be isolated and investigated in the absence of deep processing. Objectives: We sought to examine the extent to which altering hair impacts the recognition of a previously viewed face. Methods: Participants were presented with a series of face images followed by a recognition probe of either a new face or a face that was among the previously presented images with either the same hairstyle (identical face) or a different hairstyle (disguised face). Results: Participants showed significantly less accuracy in the disguised condition compared to the identical condition. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence that hairstyle plays a role in recognizing unfamiliar faces. This appears to hold true across race and sex, as well as across deep and shallow processing.     

Do distractors interfere with memory for study pairs in associative recognition?

In an associative recognition task, distractors generally consist of a rearrangement of the items composing the study pairs. This makes it possible that processing the distractors generates retroactive interference on memory for the study pairs. In Experiment 1, we explored this possibility in ayes/no recognition test concerning previously learned arbitrary associations between visual symbols and auditory syllables. Rearranged pairs had a deleterious impact on the accuracy and the speed of responses to related correct pairs. This effect did not vary as a function of the number of training blocks, and furthermore, in Experiment 2, the same effect was observed for overlearned small multiplication facts. These results suggest that exposure to potentially confounding information generates interference even if this information is known to be incorrect. Some implications are outlined, especially with regard to the widespread use of multiple-choice tests in knowledge evaluation.     

Get the gist? The effects of processing depth on false recognition in short-term and long-term memory

Gist-based processing has been proposed to account for robust false memories in the converging-associates task. The deep-encoding processes known to enhance verbatim memory also strengthen gist memory and increase distortions of long-term memory (LTM). Recent research has demonstrated that compelling false memory illusions are relatively delay-invariant, also occurring under canonical short-term memory (STM) conditions. To investigate the contributions of gist to false memory at short and long delays, processing depth was manipulated as participants encoded lists of four semantically related words and were probed immediately, following a filled 3- to 4-s retention interval, or approximately 20 min later, in a surprise recognition test. In two experiments, the encoding manipulation dissociated STM and LTM on the frequency, but not the phenomenology, of false memory. Deep encoding at STM increases false recognition rates at LTM, but confidence ratings and remember/know judgments are similar across delays and do not differ as a function of processing depth. These results suggest that some shared and some unique processes underlie false memory illusions at short and long delays.     

Do orthographic cues aid language recognition? A laterality study with French-English bilinguals

Sixteen French-English late bilinguals performed a speeded language recognition task on lateralized words that were either marked or unmarked for language on the basis of digram frequency. Response latencies were faster to orthographically marked than unmarked words, particularly in the second language (English). Furthermore, L2 marked words were responded to faster than L1 marked words. These effects were especially prominent for words presented in the left visual field. It is suggested that subjects made use of different strategies in performing the task of language recognition task, with a perceptual search strategy deployed to identify orthographically marked words, resulting in an L2 advantage for such words, and a lexical search strategy deployed for unmarked words, resulting in an L1 advantage for such words.     

Can false memories spontaneously recover?

Can false memories that were suppressed at one time spontaneously recover at a later time? Fuzzy trace theory and activation-monitoring theory predict that false memories in the Deese, Roediger, and McDermott (DRM) procedure become substantially reduced as list learning progresses because participants employ a memory-editing process. It follows that if the editing process is rendered less effective, false memories should spontaneously recover. We found that after DRM lists were well learned and false recognition to critical words was substantially reduced by multiple study–test trials, those false memories spontaneously recovered when participants were either rushed or delayed on a retest. We attributed the reduction in false recognition over trials to a memory-editing process that suppresses false recognition as participants gradually learn which words were in the lists and which words, though similar, were not. Rushing or delaying the participants on a retest made it more difficult for them to edit their memory, and false memories spontaneously returned.