Qualities of memories for performed and imagined actions

When people imagine performing simple actions they can sometimes become confused about whether they actually performed the actions or only imagined doing so. In the present study participants performed, imagined, and heard groups of actions. During a second session participants imagined some of the earlier actions as well as some entirely new actions. On a later memory test participants sometimes falsely indicated that they had performed actions that they had only imagined and this tendency was a positive function of number of imaginings. We also found that true and false memories differed in terms of degree of perceptual detail, associated thoughts, emotions, contextual information, and kinesthetic detail. Differences between true and false memories were smaller when the action was imagined five times but were not entirely eliminated. These findings suggest that false memories produced in this paradigm can be both compelling and yet subtly different from true memories. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of memory schemata on memory and the phenomenological experience of naturalistic situations

Two experiments document the effect of memory schemata in naturalistic situations. Participants in both experiments watched a short videotaped lecture in which the instructor enacted several schema‐consistent actions (e.g. writing on a whiteboard) and schema‐inconsistent actions (e.g. smoking a cigarette). Following the videotaped lecture, participants completed a recognition test and rated the phenomenological content of their memories. In both experiments, memory was more accurate for schema‐inconsistent actions than for schema‐consistent actions. Participants also indicated that their memories of schema‐inconsistent actions were more vivid than schema‐consistent actions. Interestingly, in Experiment 2, the false memory rate for typical items increased across both 48‐hour and one week retention intervals. These results have important implications for the processes of normal human memory in everyday situations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing the effectiveness of warnings and the phenomenological characteristics of false memories

The phenomenology of false memories was investigated in three experiments in which participants heard two experimenters read lists of items that were related to critical nonpresented items. In Experiments 1, following a recognition memory test, participants rated the phenomenological characteristics of their memories immediately and after a 48-hour delay. False recognition was prevalent and on several dimensions participants rated their true memories as more vivid than their false memories. In Experiments 2 and 3, following the study phase, participants were warned about the phenomenological differences between true and false memories and were instructed to use this information to avoid reporting nonpresented items. This type of warning was ineffective at reducing false recall (Experiment 2) and false recognition (Experiment 3) relative to unwarned participants. Importantly, the inability of explicit warnings to impact illusory recollections demonstrates that the false memories cannot be attributed simply to a criterion shift.     

‘Good,you identified the suspect…but please ignore this feedback’: can warnings eliminate the effects of post‐identification feedback?

The present experiments focus on whether the post‐identification feedback effect can be reduced by providing participants with warnings. Participants viewed a crime on video and identified a suspect from a target‐absent lineup (Experiment 1) or target‐present lineup (Experiment 2). Participants then received positive feedback, negative feedback or no feedback. Half of the participants received a warning saying their feedback was randomly generated by the computer, and the other half received no warning. Robust post‐identification feedback effects were observed in both experiments in the no warning condition. These effects were largely eliminated when participants received a warning. In Experiments 3 and 4, we failed to find an ameliorative effect of a forensically realistic warning. These results indicate that warnings can reduce the effect of post‐identification feedback in principle, but the application of warnings in practice may be more difficult. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Weapon Focus Effect in Target‐Present and Target‐Absent Line‐Ups: The Roles of Threat,Novelty, and Timing

When an eyewitness suffers an impairment of memory for a perpetrator because the criminal used a weapon during the crime, this impairment is called the weapon focus effect. The literature is split on how this arises: Some implicate the narrowing of attentional cues to the weapon because the arousal of the victim increases, whereas others claim that the weapon is a novel object in most everyday contexts, and novel objects demand more attention than contextually appropriate ones. The current study employed a simulated crime paradigm featuring a normal, novel, or threatening object. Timing of the object's presentation was manipulated such that it was visible before, after, or during the time when the culprit's face was visible. Target‐present and target‐absent line‐ups as well as retrospective questions were administered. Both the novel object and the weapon resulted in increased mistaken identifications in target‐absent line‐ups. Structural equation modeling suggested that object novelty mediated this effect. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Memory conjunction errors: The effects of presentation duration and study repetition

The memory-strengthening manipulations of increased presentation duration and increased number of times items were presented were manipulated in the memory conjunction paradigm. Participants viewed parent words once or three times during the study portion of the experiment for 250 ms, 1000 ms, or 3000 ms. After an old/new recognition test participants were asked to give explanations for their answers from the recognition test. The results of true and false recognition as well as recall-to-reject responses (e.g., I know I did not see blackbird since I saw blackmail) indicated that both familiarity and recollection were influenced by the memory-strengthening manipulations. The results provide evidence for dual-process theories of recognition memory and the opposing processes of familiarity and recollection.     

Global gist extraction in children and adults

The DRM paradigm was used to examine the role of global gist extraction in producing false memories in children and adults. First-graders, third-graders, and adults watched a videotape of a woman reading seven DRM lists, and then took a recognition memory test. Blocked (vs random) presentation and instructions to attend to the theme of lists were manipulated to enhance gist processing. In the first experiment, blocked presentation increased false recognition relative to random presentation in adults but not in first-graders or third-graders. In the second experiment, instructions to attend to list themes increased false recognition in third-graders and not in adults or first-graders. The results suggest a developmental pattern in which children become more adept at global gist extraction as they get older. These results are consistent with fuzzy trace theory's prediction of better gist processing as children grow older.     

Robust recollection rejection in the memory conjunction paradigm

The present research provides compelling evidence for recollection rejection in the memory conjunction paradigm. In Experiment 1, warnings provided at time of test were shown to reduce memory conjunction errors. Moreover, the authors found substantial evidence of recollection rejection and phantom recollection. In Experiment 2, the authors manipulated how often study items were presented. Participants were told that they could earn a cash payoff for being accurate. Recognition of conjunction lures was lower in the multiple presentation condition. However, the payoff manipulation did not significantly interact with item type. The authors obtained evidence of robust recollection rejection from 3 different dependent measures. Consistent with Experiment 1, they also found evidence of phantom recollection. These findings provide evidence that recollection rejection can be quite robust in the memory conjunction paradigm.     

Organisation and retrieval: the generation of event clusters

The present research examined the nature of autobiographical memory event clusters. Specifically we were interested in the interplay between the content and organisation of autobiographical memory with retrieval in determining the similarity of event memories across time. Using an event cueing procedure, clusters of related event memories were generated. Participants sorted these events into meaningful groups after a delay of several weeks. The results suggest that participants' ability to perform this sorting task is dependent on their ability to reinstate the retrieval context. Further our results suggest that event clusters are chains of related event memories as opposed to clusters of interrelated event memories.