scholarly journals Correcting False Memories: The Effect of Mnemonic Generalization on Original Memory Traces

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan M. Muncy ◽  
C. Brock Kirwan
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
False Memory ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Test Session ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Memory Errors ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Original Information

AbstractFalse memories are a common occurrence but the impact of misremembering on the original memory trace is ill-described. While the original memory may be rewritten, it is also possible for a second false memory to exist concurrently with the original, and if a false memory exists concurrently then recovery of the original information should be possible. This study investigates first, whether false recognition overwrites the original memory representation using a mnemonic discrimination task, and second, which neural processes are involved in recovering the original memory following a false memory. Thirty-five healthy, young adults performed multiple recognition memory tests, where the design of the experiment induced participants to make memory errors in the first recognition memory test and then allowed us to determine whether the memory error would be corrected in the second test session. FMRI signal associated with the encoding and retrieval processes during the experiment were investigated in order to determine the important regions for false memory correction. We found that false memories do not overwrite the original trace in all instances, as recovery of the original information was possible. Critically, we determined that recovery of the original information was dependent on higher-order processes during the formation of the false memory during the first test, and not on processing at the time of encoding or the second test episode.

scholarly journals Memory Training as a Method for Reducing the Misinformation Effect

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malwina Szpitalak ◽  
Adrianna Woltmann ◽  
Romuald Polczyk ◽  
Magdalena Kękuś
Keyword(s):  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Misinformation Effect ◽  
Memory Errors ◽  
Immediate Recall ◽  
Truth Effect ◽  
Training Courses ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Original Information

Abstract The two experiments presented in this study investigate the impact of memory training on the misinformation effect. This effect is particularly important in the forensic context as exposing a witness to misinformation may adversely affect the content of their testimony. During the training, the participants were acquainted with seven (Experiment 1) or six (Experiment 2) types of memory errors. It was expected that knowledge of the unreliability of human memory would reduce the misinformation effect and therefore improve the quality of testimony. These hypotheses were confirmed in both experiments. The efficacy of both the complete and reduced training courses was not statistically different. Additionally, in Experiment 1 the effectiveness of warning against misinformation was replicated: respondents warned about misinformation were more resistant to it than those not warned. The tainted truth effect was also present: people warned against non-existent misinformation had lower correctness in the memory test than non-warned ones. Finally, immediate recall of the content of the original information had no impact on the misinformation effect.

scholarly journals Mindfulness and false memories: state and dispositional mindfulness does not increase false memories for naturalistic scenes presented in a virtual environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Ayache ◽  
Kouloud Abichou ◽  
Valentina La Corte ◽  
Pascale Piolino ◽  
Marco Sperduti
Keyword(s):  
Beneficial Effect ◽  
False Memory ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Mindfulness Practice ◽  
Dispositional Mindfulness ◽  
Practice Session ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Acting With Awareness ◽  
The Impact

AbstractMindfulness attracted increased research interests in the last decade, reporting an overall beneficial effect of this practice on cognitive performances. Nevertheless, recently a possible detrimental impact of mindfulness has been underlined. While the effect of mindfulness on memory remains under-explored, recent studies have observed an increased false-memory susceptibility after mindfulness practice. A possible explanatory mechanism has been suggested, related to the nature of the studied material. For semantically related information, mindfulness would increase false memories; however, the addition of rich perceptual information could prevent this detrimental effect. The present study aimed to verify this hypothesis by testing the impact of state mindfulness induced by a short meditation session, and dispositional mindfulness on the production of false memory for pictorial material presented in a complex virtual environment. We employed a virtual reality version of the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm (DRM), a classical protocol to induce false memories. Contrary to previous studies, we did not observe any effect of mindfulness on false or correct memories (free recall and recognition) after a short mindfulness practice session compared to a control condition. Nonetheless, we found a beneficial effect of mindfulness practice on memory sensitivity. Additionally, we reported a positive and negative effect of dispositional mindfulness on memory outcomes. While the Non-Reactivity facet was associated with overall better memory performances, we observed an association between the Acting with Awareness facet and an increased recollection of lures. We discuss these findings in line with a recent proposal on the link between mindfulness and episodic memory.

scholarly journals False memory susceptibility is correlated with categorisation ability in humans

F1000Research ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hunt ◽  
Lars Chittka
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
False Memory ◽  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Free Recall Test ◽  
Memory Errors ◽  
Evolutionary Time ◽  
The Face

Our memory is often surprisingly inaccurate, with errors ranging from misremembering minor details of events to generating illusory memories of entire episodes. The pervasiveness of such false memories generates a puzzle: in the face of selection pressure for accuracy of memory, how could such systematic failures have persisted over evolutionary time? It is possible that memory errors are an inevitable by-product of our adaptive memories and that semantic false memories are specifically connected to our ability to learn rules and concepts and to classify objects by category memberships. Here we test this possibility using a standard experimental false memory paradigm and inter-individual variation in verbal categorisation ability. Indeed it turns out that the error scores are significantly negatively correlated, with those individuals scoring fewer errors on the categorisation test being more susceptible to false memory intrusions in a free recall test. A similar trend, though not significant, was observed between individual categorisation ability and false memory susceptibility in a word recognition task. Our results therefore indicate that false memories, to some extent, might be a by-product of our ability to learn rules, categories and concepts.

scholarly journals False memory susceptibility is correlated with categorisation ability in humans

F1000Research ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hunt ◽  
Lars Chittka
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
False Memory ◽  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Free Recall Test ◽  
Memory Errors ◽  
Evolutionary Time ◽  
The Face

Our memory is often surprisingly inaccurate, with errors ranging from misremembering minor details of events to generating illusory memories of entire episodes. The pervasiveness of such false memories generates a puzzle: in the face of selection pressure for accuracy of memory, how could such systematic failures have persisted over evolutionary time? It is possible that memory errors are an inevitable by-product of our adaptive memories and that semantic false memories are specifically connected to our ability to learn rules and concepts and to classify objects by category memberships. Here we test this possibility using a standard experimental false memory paradigm and inter-individual variation in verbal categorisation ability. Indeed it turns out that the error scores are significantly negatively correlated, with those individuals scoring fewer errors on the categorisation test being more susceptible to false memory intrusions in a free recall test. A similar trend, though not significant, was observed between individual categorisation ability and false memory susceptibility in a word recognition task. Our results therefore indicate that false memories, to some extent, might be a by-product of our ability to learn rules, categories and concepts.

scholarly journals Memory Accuracy for Emotional and Neutral Narratives: Investigating the Influence of Suggestive Misinformation on the Frequency of False Memories

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1 and 2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Paige ◽  
Elizabeth Kensinger
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Memory Errors ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Memory Accuracy ◽  
New Information ◽  
Reconstructive Process ◽  
Negative Condition

Memory is a reconstructive process, impressionable and not always vigilant in detecting devices working against its accuracy. False memory occurs when memory for an event is infiltrated by new information or alterations are made to the information that was previously stored. The present study investigated the effect of emotional valence on false memory occurrence through the misinformation effect – memory errors that arise as a consequence of exposure to misleading information - by presenting participants with narratives in one of three valence conditions (negative, positive, neutral) and subjecting them to suggestive questions providing credulous misinformation following a one-hour delay. Results revealed that when collapsing across negative and positive conditions, overall false memory occurrences were significantly reduced for these narratives compared to the neutral condition. Some of the effects of emotion on memory accuracy were more pronounced for negative information than for positive or neutral information; response rates in the negative condition, as compared to the two other valence conditions, revealed an increase in hits and a decrease in false alarms suggesting negative valence enhances discriminability.

scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF FEEDBACK AND WARNING ON RETRIEVAL-ENHANCED SUGGESTIBILITY

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xilei Wang ◽  
◽  
Xueying Li ◽  
Wenwu Dai ◽  
Ning Jia
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Retrieval Practice ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Eyewitness Testimony ◽  
Criminal Investigation ◽  
Chinese Context ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Retrieval Enhanced Suggestibility ◽  
Original Information

"Retrieval practice can exacerbate eyewitness’ susceptibility to subsequent misinformation and then produces more false memories is known as Retrieval-Enhanced Suggestibility (RES). In the field of judicial psychology, eyewitness testimony plays a crucial role, and even directly affects the judgment of the suspect. The eyewitnesses may be interfered with by other irrelevant information or repeated inquiries by the police, thus causing misinformation interference from the original information. In all three experiments, this study uses pictures of Chinese criminal investigation dramas as experimental materials. This study examines the mechanism of RES effect by manipulating the feedback from retrieval and warning. The results show that: (1) There is still a significant RES effect on the Chinese context; (2) Both feedback and warning play an important role in the generation of RES. Among them, the feedback enhanced the participant’ memory of the original information and reduced the credibility of misinformation. Thus, the RES effect is reduced; (3) Warnings reduce the credibility of all narrative information, thereby reducing the RES effect. In short, both feedback and warning can reduce the RES effect, but the effect of feedback is more positive and precise."

scholarly journals The Role of Language Proficiency in False Memory: A Mini Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mar Suarez ◽  
Maria Soledad Beato
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
Associative Strength ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
False Memories ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Memory Errors ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Current State

Memory errors and, specifically, false memories in the Deese/Roediger–McDermott paradigm have been extensively studied in the past decades. Most studies have investigated false memory in monolinguals’ native or first language (L1), but interest has also grown in examining false memories in participants’ second language (L2) with different proficiency levels. The main purpose of this manuscript is to review the current state of knowledge on the role of language proficiency on false memories when participants encode and retrieve information in the same language. To do so, a systematic literature search was conducted, and the available studies were reviewed. These studies differed in, for example, age, language proficiency, or material characteristics, including both high and low associative strength lists, and they reported different results. In this review, we attempted to make sense of the apparently contradictory results by carefully identifying participants’ language dominance and L2 proficiency. Specifically, the results indicated that, first, people are more prone to produce false memories in their dominant than in their non-dominant language. This result generalizes to lists with high and low associative strength, as well as to participants of different ages. Second, false memories do not differ between two languages when speakers are equally proficient in both languages. Finally, highly proficient L2 speakers produce more false memories in their L2 than speakers with lower L2 proficiency. The results of this review will be considered in the light of the theoretical frameworks of false memories and bilingual language processing.

Three Pillars of False Memory Prevention

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Gallo ◽  
James M. Lampinen
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Laboratory Research ◽  
Collateral Information ◽  
Memory Accuracy ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Retrieval Monitoring

Conscious recollections of past experiences are prone to distortion, but retrieval monitoring processes help control memory accuracy and avoid false memories. This chapter overviews the metacognitive aspects of three retrieval processes that are fundamental for determining whether or not a questionable event had occurred in one’s past: (1) selectively searching memory for evidence of the questionable event (orientation), (2) diagnosing the validity of retrieved evidence by comparing it to one’s expectations about the questionable event’s memorability (evaluation), and (3) using various kinds of collateral information to converge upon the truth (corroboration). Such collateral information could include recollections of surrounding events that confirm or disqualify the questionable event’s occurrence, as well as other kinds of knowledge pertaining to the questionable event’s likelihood or plausibility. The chapter discusses laboratory research on each of these processes and considers how these processes recursively interact when remembering the more complex autobiographical events of our lives.

Adaptive constructive processes: An episodic specificity induction impacts false recall in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preston Thakral ◽  
Kevin Madore ◽  
Aleea Devitt ◽  
Daniel L. Schacter
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
False Memories ◽  
False Recall ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Brief Training ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Reliable Procedure ◽  
Increased Susceptibility

Numerous studies indicate that an episodic specificity induction (ESI) - brief training in recollecting the details of a past experience - enhances performance on subsequent tasks that rely on episodic retrieval, including autobiographical memory, imagination, problem solving, and creative thinking. In four experiments, we examined whether these benefits of the ESI extend to reducing susceptibility to false memory, or whether they are accompanied by a cost in the form of increased susceptibility to false memory. To assess how ESI impacts false memory generation, we used the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, a reliable procedure for generating false memories. When an ESI was administered after DRM list presentation and just before a free recall test, rates of false recall for critical lures were significantly enhanced relative to a control induction. These findings support the hypothesis that ESI operates to boost recollection of illusory episodic details associated with critical lures in the DRM, and suggest that constructive rather than reproductive episodic retrieval processes support the wide-ranging benefits of ESI on a range of cognitive tasks.

scholarly journals Neural Oscillations and a Nascent Corticohippocampal Theory of Reference

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 896-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mante S. Nieuwland ◽  
Andrea E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Gamma Band ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Band Power ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Communicative Power

The ability to use words to refer to the world is vital to the communicative power of human language. In particular, the anaphoric use of words to refer to previously mentioned concepts (antecedents) allows dialogue to be coherent and meaningful. Psycholinguistic theory posits that anaphor comprehension involves reactivating a memory representation of the antecedent. Whereas this implies the involvement of recognition memory or the mnemonic subroutines by which people distinguish old from new, the neural processes for reference resolution are largely unknown. Here, we report time–frequency analysis of four EEG experiments to reveal the increased coupling of functional neural systems associated with referentially coherent expressions compared with referentially problematic expressions. Despite varying in modality, language, and type of referential expression, all experiments showed larger gamma-band power for referentially coherent expressions compared with referentially problematic expressions. Beamformer analysis in high-density Experiment 4 localized the gamma-band increase to posterior parietal cortex around 400–600 msec after anaphor onset and to frontotemporal cortex around 500–1000 msec. We argue that the observed gamma-band power increases reflect successful referential binding and resolution, which links incoming information to antecedents through an interaction between the brain's recognition memory networks and frontotemporal language network. We integrate these findings with previous results from patient and neuroimaging studies, and we outline a nascent corticohippocampal theory of reference.

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