Comparing recollective experience in true and false autobiographical memories

This study investigated whether true autobiographical memories are qualitatively distinct from false autobiographical memories using a variation of the interview method originally reported by E. F. Loftus and J. Pickrell (1995). Participants recalled events provided by parents on 3 separate occasions and were asked to imagine true and false unremembered events. True memories were rated by both participants and observers as more rich in recollective experience and were rated by participants as more important, more emotionally intense, as having clearer imagery, and as less typical than false memories. Rehearsal frequency was used as a covariate, eliminating these effects. Imagery in true memories was most often viewed from the field perspective, whereas imagery in false memories was most often viewed from the observer perspective. More information was communicated in true memories, and true memories contained more information concerning the consequences of described events. Results suggest repeated remembering can make false memories more rich in recollective experience and more like true memories. Differences between true and false memories suggest some potentially distinct characteristics of false memories and provide insight into the process of false memory creation.     

Individual differences in imagination inflation

Garry, Manning, Loftus, and Sherman (1996) found that when adult subjects imagined childhood events, these events were subsequentlyjudged as more likely to have occurred than were not-imagined events. The authors termed this effect imagination inflation. We replicated the effect, using a novel set of Life Events Inventory events. Further, we tested whether the effect is related to four subject characteristics possibly associated with false memory creation. The extent to which subjects inflated judged likelihood following imagined events was associated with indices of hypnotic suggestibility and dissociativity, but not with vividness of imagery or interrogative suggestibility. Results suggest that imagination plays a role in subsequent likelihood judgments regarding childhood events, and that some individuals are more likely than others to experience imagination inflation.     

The effects of number of responses on pause length with temporal variables controlled

A change in the size of a fixed-ratio schedule involves a simultaneous change in number of responses, in time to complete the ratio (work time), and in the interval between successive reinforcements (interreinforcement interval). Previous studies have suggested the importance of work time and the interreinforcement interval in controlling the length of the post-reinforcement pause. The present study sought to determine whether number of responses is also a significant factor. Pigeons were trained on a multiple fixed-ratio x fixed-ratio 2 plus timeout schedule in which the size of the fixed-ratio x was manipulated. When the work times (Experiment I) or interreinforcement intervals (Experiment II) were equated for the two components, the pause before the fixed-ratio x was longer than the pause before the fixed-ratio 2 plus timeout. As fixed-ratio x size increased, the relative difference in the lengths of the two types of pauses also increased. Because the fixed-ratio x component contained a larger number of responses than the fixed-ratio 2 plus timeout component, the relatively longer pause preceding the fixed-ratio x indicates that number of responses played a significant role in determining the length of the post-reinforcement pause.