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.     

Attention to global gist processing eliminates age effects in false memories

Counterintuitive age increases have been reported for the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false memory illusion. The current theoretical explanation of this effect assumes that it is due to age increases in spontaneous interconnection of DRM list words' meanings. To test this explanation, 11-year-olds and young adults studied DRM lists under conditions that (a) encouraged them to form such meaning-based connections or (b) discouraged them from doing so. In line with the explanation, the usual developmental increase in false memory disappeared in the first condition but was preserved in the second condition. Also in line with the explanation, conjoint recognition analyses revealed that encouraging participants to form meaning connections increased their reliance on gist-based similarity judgments.     

Phantom ROC: Recollection rejection in a hybrid conjoint recognition signal detection model

The present experiments test predictions of dual process models with regards to recollection rejection using a model called phantom ROC. Participants studied pictures and then took a recognition test in which they were presented with targets (i.e., the exact picture presented), related lures (i.e., the same object but from a different angle), and unrelated lures (i.e., objects that had not been shown). For each item, participants answered both standard recognition and meaning recognition questions. In Experiment 1 participants studied pictures under either full attention or divided attention. In Experiment 2 some participants were told that no object was shown twice (i.e., mutual exclusivity instructions), while others were told that both camera angles might have been shown for some objects (no mutual exclusivity instructions). The present experiments provide three converging measures, all of which are consistent with dual process models that propose a recollection rejection mechanism.