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. 2010 Jan;36(1):66-79.
doi: 10.1037/a0017394.

The role of memory activation in creating false memories of encoding context

Jason Arndt  1
Affiliations

The role of memory activation in creating false memories of encoding context

Jason Arndt. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2010 Jan.

Abstract

Using 3 experiments, I examined false memory for encoding context by presenting Deese-Roediger-McDermott themes (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) in usual-looking fonts and by testing related, but unstudied, lure items in a font that was shown during encoding. In 2 of the experiments, testing lure items in the font used to study their associated themes increased false recognition relative to testing lure items in a font that was used to study a different lure's theme. Further, studying a larger number of associates exacerbated the influence of testing lure items in a font used to study their associated themes. Finally, testing lures in a font that was encoded many times, but was not used to present the lures' studied associates, increased lure errors more than testing lures in a font that was encoded relatively fewer times. These results favor the explanation of false recognition offered by global-matching models of recognition memory over the explanations of activation-monitoring theory and fuzzy-trace theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of fonts used to present stimuli.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of old responses in Experiment 1 for studied items (top panel) and lure items (bottom panel) as a function of Number of Associates Studied and Study-Test Match. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Proportion of old responses in Experiment 2 for studied items (top panel) and lure items (bottom panel) as a function of Number of Associates per Font. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Proportion of old responses in Experiment 3 for studied items (top panel) and lure items (bottom panel) as a function of Number of Associates per Font and Study-Test Match. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean.
Figure 5
Figure 5
d′ for studied items (top panel) and lure items (bottom panel) in Experiment 3 as a function of Number of Associates per Font and Study-Test Match. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Arndt J. Distinctive information and false recognition: The contribution of encoding and retrieval factors. Journal of Memory and Language. 2006;54:113–130.
    1. Arndt J, Gould C. An examination of two-process theories of false recognition. Memory. 2006;14:814–833. - PubMed
    1. Arndt J, Hirshman E. True and false recognition in MINERVA2: Explanations from a global-matching perspective. Journal of Memory and Language. 1998;39:371–391.
    1. Arndt J, Reder LM. The effect of distinctive visual information on false recognition. Journal of Memory and Language. 2003;48:1–15.
    1. Brainerd CJ, Reyna VF. The Science of False Memory. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005.

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