DRM Paradigm: Evidence that Alzheimer’s Patients Think of the Critical Lure as Often as Healthy Older Participants

Prior research using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm has shown that participants are more likely to report the critical lures when long lists are presented. In this experiment, we evaluated two potential explanations for this list-length effect. Ten-year-old children and adults studied 7- or 14-word lists. After recalling each list, participants were then asked to report any other words that they had thought about, but had not reported, during the recall phase. We found that long lists were more likely to activate the critical lure and that short lists did not facilitate source monitoring. On the basis of our findings, we conclude that, for both age groups, the list-length effect was due primarily to list-related differences in activation of the critical lure.

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Variability among Deese-Roediger-McDermott Lists in Eliciting False Recall for People's Names

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.99.2.547-561 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 99 (2) ◽

pp. 547-561

Author(s):

Akira Mukai

Keyword(s):

Source Monitoring ◽

Free Association ◽

False Recall ◽

Association Rate ◽

Drm Paradigm ◽

Study Item ◽

Critical Lure ◽

List Structure ◽

Two Factors ◽

The Difference

According to previous research, the variability of lists in eliciting false recall in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm is large. A list structure made by Mukai, in which people's names were used as critical lures, was used to investigate the variability of lists. The materials were composed of 6 pairs of lists, in which the critical lure and its contextually associated study item (referred to as critical presented item) were assumed to play an important role in eliciting false recall. 80 participants ( M age = 21.7 yr.; SD = 2.6) were tested. The difference of the list pair in eliciting false recall was positively correlated with list pair differences in free association rate from critical presented item to critical lure ( r = .82, p <.05) and negatively correlated with the length of critical lure ( r = −.94, p < .01). It was shown that the variability of lists in eliciting false recall can be explained by these two factors. Moreover, the length of the lure was also negatively correlated with an index of unsuccessful source monitoring ( r = −.87, p < .05). The results were discussed in terms of the activation/monitoring theory.

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Caffeine's Effects on True and False Memory

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.104.3.787-795 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 104 (3) ◽

pp. 787-795 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Sarah Capek ◽

R. Kim Guenther

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

False Memory ◽

Single Word ◽

Drm Paradigm ◽

Critical Lure ◽

Word Lists

Caffeine's effects on recall of word lists were investigated using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. College students were administered either 200 mg of caffeine or a 250-mg lactose placebo; after 30 min., they were tested on recall using six word lists. Words of each list were semantically related to a single word (a “critical lure”) that was not presented in the list. participants administered caffeine recalled more list words and more critical lures than participants administered lactose. Recall of list words was negatively correlated with recall of critical lures. Caffeine appears to intensify the strength of connections among list words and critical lures, thereby enhancing both true and false memory.

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Awareness of the False Memory Manipulation and False Recall for People's Names as Critical Lures in the Deese-Roediger-Mcdermott Paradigm

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.101.2.546-560 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 101 (2) ◽

pp. 546-560 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Akira Mukai

Keyword(s):

False Memory ◽

False Recall ◽

Drm Paradigm ◽

Central Concept ◽

Critical Lure ◽

Age Range

In the present study, people's names were used as Critical Lures (central concept not on the lists) in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm for studying false recall. Following Mukai, the transparency of false memory manipulation in the paradigm was manipulated to explore its influence on false recall. 80 volunteers (age range 17–30 years, M age = 20.9 yr., SD = 1.6) took part. Analyses showed that making the critical lure inconspicuous did not significantly increase false recall. However, the proportion of falsely recalled Critical Lures was significantly lower and the proportion of critical lures produced on a postrecall test (asking participants to report items that they had thought of but did not recall) was significantly higher when they spontaneously realized the nature of false memory manipulation. However, there was no effect on veridical recall of study items. These results suggest that participants strategically avoided reporting false recall for people's names as Critical Lures even without forewarning about false memory.

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Associative strength or gist extraction: Which matters when DRM lists have two critical lures?

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021818761002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 570-578

Author(s):

Helena M Oliveira ◽

Pedro B Albuquerque ◽

Magda Saraiva

Keyword(s):

Associative Strength ◽

False Memories ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Drm Paradigm ◽

Critical Lure

The Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm is often used in the study of false memories. This paradigm typically uses lists of words associated with one critical lure. The primary objective of our study was to understand the production of false memories using the DRM paradigm when lists of words are associated with two critical lures. Three experiments were performed, and it was observed that the critical lures associated with the first set were significantly more frequently recalled than the critical lures associated with the second set. This result was verified when the words were presented in descending order of association with the critical lure (Experiment 1), when the words of the second set were presented in ascending order of association with the critical lure (Experiment 2), and when all the words in the list had the same associative strength (Experiment 3). Results are explained by the activation/monitoring and fuzzy-trace theories.

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