Novel Approaches and Cognitive Neuroscience Perspectives on False Memory and Deception.

The DRM (Deese-Roediger-McDermott) paradigm produces robust false memories of non-presented critical words. After studying a thematic word list (e.g., bed, rest, and pillow) participants falsely remember the critical item "sleep." We report two false memory experiments. Study One introduces a novel use of the lexical decision task (LDT) to prime critical words. Participants see two letter-strings and make timed responses indicating whether they are both words. The word pairs Night-Bed and Dream-Thweeb both prime "sleep" but only one pair contains two words. Our primary purpose is to introduce this new methodology via two pilot experiments. The results, considered preliminary, are promising as they indicate that participants were as likely to recognize critical words (false memories) and presented words (true memories) just as when studying thematic lists. Study Two actually employs the standard DRM lists so that semantic priming is in play there as well. The second study, however, uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure activity in the prefrontal cortex during a DRM task which includes a deception phase where participants intentionally lie about critical lures. False and true memories occurred at high levels and activated many of the same brain regions but, compared to true memories, cortical activity was higher for false memories and lies. Accuracy findings are accompanied by confidence and reaction time results. Both investigations suggest that it is difficult to distinguish accurate from inaccurate memories. We explain results in terms of activation-monitoring theory and Fuzzy Trace Theory. We provide real world implications and suggest extending the present research to varying age groups and special populations. A nagging question has not been satisfactorily answered: Could neural pathways exist that signal the presence of false memories and lies? Answering this question will require imaging experiments that focus on regions of distinction such as the anterior prefrontal cortex.

Conjoint recognition procedures reveal verbatim processing enhances memory for emotionally valenced pictorial stimuli.

Frequently, emotion is associated with enhancements in memory as long as arousal is not too extreme. Negative valence can also lead to increased false memories. Yet less is known about specific memory processes that drive these effects of emotional content on memory performance. The present study uses conjoint recognition analyses to investigate the memory processes associated with memory for negative and positive pictorial stimuli. Participants studied pictures, which had been rated as negative-arousing, positive-arousing, or neutral-non-arousing, before completing a recognition memory test 48 hr later. Contrary to initial expectations based on process-based estimates of emotional words, gist-based processing did not lead to high levels of true memory for negative pictures, nor were negative pictures associated with compellingly real false memories. Instead, negative pictures were recognized more frequently than neutral pictures, and this effect was related to increased verbatim-based identity judgments. However, emotional memory enhancements were not observed for positive pictures. These results indicate that emotional memory enhancements for negative pictures are related to enhanced verbatim processing of emotional material. When false memories did occur for negative pictures, they were because of gist-based similarity judgments as predicted by prior process-based estimates of false memory for negative-arousing words or pictures. Such results are discussed in terms of eyewitness memory and the processes underlying such remembering, because in many criminal and forensically relevant situations, witnesses, who are often victims as well, are asked to recognize the perpetrator or other arousing aspects of an event. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Adaptive Memory: Survival Processing and Social Isolation.

Social isolation was examined to assess its potential influence on the survival processing effect, which shows that individuals are more likely to remember something when it is processed with regard to their survival. Participants imagined being stranded in the grasslands, going on a space mission, or moving to a foreign land while alone or with a group of friends and rated a list of words for their relevance to the assigned scenario. An incidental memory test showed the typical survival processing effect on recall memory, with a significant interaction showing that the effect occurred in the isolated condition but not in the group condition. A second experiment examined rates of recognition for an isolated and group condition for the grasslands and moving scenarios and found a marginally significant effect of isolation in addition to the typical survival processing effect. Further, in both experiments, the perceived isolation of the isolated and group survival grasslands scenarios was significantly higher than the other conditions. The results are discussed with regard to the self-reference effect and the object-function account of the survival processing effect.

Reported serial positions of true and illusory memories in the Deese/Roediger/McDermott paradigm.

One of the easiest ways to induce illusory memories in the laboratory is to use the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) word-list paradigm. Researchers have used this paradigm not only to study people's memories of stimuli that were not actually presented, but also to study the phenomenological qualities of these illusions. In four experiments, the current investigation explored a phenomenological quality of illusory memories that has received almost no attention, specifically, temporality. A serial position task was incorporated into the DRM paradigm to examine temporal attributes of participants' true and false memories. Effects of list strength, presentation order, and types of warnings were examined. Results showed consistent serial position responses for true and false memories. However, only responses for illusory memories were affected by manipulations at study. The current findings thus lend support to encoding-based explanations of false recollections.

Effects of presentation mode on veridical and false memory in individuals with intellectual disability.

In the present study the effects of visual, auditory, and audio-visual presentation formats on memory for thematically constructed lists were assessed in individuals with intellectual disability and mental age-matched children. The auditory recognition test included target items, unrelated foils, and two types of semantic lures: critical related foils and related foils. The audio-visual format led to better recognition of old items and lower false-alarm rates for all foil types. Those with intellectual disability had higher false-alarm rates for all foil types and experienced particular difficulty discriminating presented items from those most strongly activated internally during acquisition (i.e., critical foils). Results are consistent with the activation-monitoring framework and fuzzy-trace theory and inform best practices for designing visual supports to maximize performance in educational and work environments.

Withstanding the test of time: the 1978 semantic word norms.

This article accompanies the archiving by the Pychonomic Society of the Toglia and Battig (1978) semantic word norms. Herein are outlined the various phases of the project, as well as the challenges that were faced in staying the course during the labor-intensive development of the norms. An examination of the number of citations of this set of norms over the years demonstrates a stable employment of these norms by investigators in many fields. Indeed, a concluding section details the wide range of research topics that have been studied with the use of this extensive set of word ratings. The complete Toglia and Battig article and norms may be downloaded as supplemental materials for this article from brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

Veridical and false pictorial memory in individuals with and without mental retardation.

Veridical and false pictorial recognition were assessed in individuals with mental retardation; groups were matched for MA and CA. Pictures were viewed in either a generative or static format at acquisition. The individuals with mental retardation and those in the MA-matched group had higher rates of false memories for critical items and lower hit rates than did their CA-matched peers. The mental retardation group demonstrated an acquiescent response bias (i.e., high novel false-alarm rate). When data were corrected for this bias, those with mental retardation had significantly lower hit rates but equivalent false-alarm rates to the MA-matched participants. Results are discussed in terms of pictorial distinctiveness and within the frameworks of activation monitoring and fuzzy trace theory.

The perceived credibility of older adults as witnesses and its relation to ageism.

In experiment 1, 267 undergraduates read a case summary and witness statement. Sex and age of the witness (49, 69, 79 or 89 years) were varied. Participants rated the witness's perceived convincingness, confidence, quality of observation, accuracy, honesty, competence, memory, suggestibility, and cognitive functioning. As well as an age effect for honesty, age by sex interactions were observed for several characteristics, particularly for comparisons of the 79-year-olds versus the 49-year-olds, and 89-year-olds versus the 49-year-olds. In experiment 2, 94 undergraduates read the same testimony given by a 79-year-old male or female witness, and completed the Fraboni Scale of Ageism and the Aging Semantic Differential. Participants who evidenced stronger aging stereotypes on these measures rated the witness less favorably than did participants who were less prejudiced. This experiment is the first to show a link between perceived credibility of older adults and ageist attitudes. Practical applications regarding how older witnesses are viewed by jurors, and the criminal justice system more generally, are discussed.

The mitigating effects of suspicion on post-identification feedback and on retrospective eyewitness memory.

Three studies examined procedures for reducing the post-identification feedback effect. After viewing a video event, participants were then asked to identify a suspect from a target-absent photo lineup. After making their identification, some participants were given information suggesting that their identification was correct, while others were given no information about the accuracy of their identification. Some participants who received confirming feedback were also given reasons to entertain suspicion regarding the motives of the lineup administrator, either immediately (Experiment 1) or after a one-week retention interval (Experiment 2). Suspicious perceivers failed to demonstrate the confidence inflation effects typically associated with confirming post-identification feedback. In Experiment 3, the confidence prophylactic effect was tested both immediately and after a one-week retention interval. The effect of confidence prophylactic varied with retention interval such that it eliminated the effects of post-identification feedback immediately but not after a retention interval. However, the suspicion manipulation eliminated the post-identification feedback effects at both time intervals. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Comparison of the efficacy of two name-learning techniques: expanding rehearsal and name-face imagery.

Two name-learning techniques were compared: expanding rehearsal and name-face imagery. Participants studied name-face associations and were given a cued recall test in which they were presented with a face and were to recall the name. They were presented with either an expanding rehearsal schedule (expanding condition), a distinctive facial feature coupled with a word phonologically similar to the last name and an interactive image linking the name and facial feature (name-face imagery condition), or a no memory (control) strategy. The expanding rehearsal schedule led to superior name learning relative to the name-face imagery and control conditions after a 15-min (Experiment 1) or 48-hr (Experiment 2) retention interval. In Experiment 3, the retrieval practice explanation was tested but not supported; we argue that an encoding variability interpretation is consistent with the overall pattern of results. Applied implications are also discussed.

Generative processing and false memories: when there is no cost.

Encoding manipulations (e.g., levels of processing) that facilitate retention often result in greater numbers of false memories, a pattern referred to as the more is less effect (M. P. Toglia, J. S. Neuschatz, & K. A. Goodwin, 1999). The present experiments explored false memories under generative processing. In Experiments 1-3, using Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists with items that were either read or generated, the authors found recognition and recall tests indicated generation effects for true memories but no increases in false memories (i.e., generation at no cost). In Experiment 4, in a departure from the DRM methodology, a cuing procedure resulted in a more is less pattern for congruous generation,and a no cost pattern for incongruous generation. This highlights the critical distinction between these encoding contexts.