scholarly journals Fuzzy-Trace Theory, False Memory, and the Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Brainerd ◽  
Valerie F. Reyna
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Child Witnesses ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽  
Rules Of Evidence ◽  
Scientific Principles ◽  
Simple Change ◽  
The Law ◽  
Eyewitness Identifications

Fuzzy-trace theory (FTT) provides well-researched scientific principles that explain worrisome forms of false memory in the law. False memories are of great legal concern because memory reports are frequently the evidence that determines guilt/innocence and are sometimes the only evidence that crimes have been committed. FTT’s principles reveal errors in commonsense theories that jurors use to judge the credibility of witnesses’ memory reports. This science versus commonsense disconnect is salient in cases involving child witnesses, eyewitness identifications, and confessions. The consequences of this disconnect for justice could be ameliorated by a simple change in federal rules of evidence.

Fuzzy-Trace Theory and False Memory

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 164-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Brainerd ◽  
V.F. Reyna
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
False Memory ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Developmental Level ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽  
Small Set ◽  
Legal Consequences

A key problem confronting theories of false memory is that false-memory phenomena are so diverse: Some are characteristic of controlled laboratory tasks, others of everyday life; some occur for traumatic events with legal consequences, others for innocuous events; some are characteristic of one developmental level, others of another developmental level. Fuzzy-trace theory explains false memories via a small set of principles that implement a single representational distinction. Those principles generate new predictions, some of which are counterintuitive.

Short-term false memories vary as a function of list type

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 2726-2741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn M McBride ◽  
Jennifer H Coane ◽  
Shuofeng Xu ◽  
Yi Feng ◽  
Zhichun Yu
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Additive Effect ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
List Type ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Type Experiment ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory

False memories have primarily been investigated at long-term delays in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) procedure, but a few studies have reported meaning-based false memories at delays as short as 1–4 s. The current study further investigated the processes that contribute to short-term false memories with semantic and phonological lists (Experiment 1) and hybrid lists containing items of each type (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, more false memories were found for phonological than for semantic lists. In Experiment 2, an asymmetrical hyper-additive effect was found such that including one or two phonological associates in pure semantic lists yielded a robust increase in false alarms, whereas including semantic associates in pure phonological lists did not affect false alarms. These results are more consistent with the activation–monitoring account of false memory creation than with fuzzy trace theory that has not typically been referenced when describing phonological false memories.

Are Children's False Memories More Persistent than their True Memories?

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 359-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Brainerd ◽  
V.F. Reyna ◽  
E. Brandse
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽  
Over Time

Fuzzy-trace theory predicts that children's false-memory responses will be well preserved over time, and that under specific conditions, they will be less likely to be forgotten than true-memory responses The reason is that initial true-memory responses are supported by unstable verbatim traces, whereas initial false-memory responses are supported by stable gist Data consistent with these predictions were obtained in three experiments with 5- and 8-year-olds

Word Frequency Effect in False Memories

2005 ◽  
Vol 96 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1095-1112E ◽  
Author(s):  
İlyas Göz
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
Recognition Test ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
False Memories ◽  
The Other ◽  
Frequency Effect ◽  
Word Frequency Effect ◽  
Testing Effects ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory

Fuzzy Trace Theory argues that false memories arise from a weak verbatim memory along with strong encoding of the meaning (gist). The present study simultaneously investigated the effects of the strength of both the gist and the verbatim information on false memories. Exp. 1 was carried out to compare false memories for common and rare words in recall and recognition. In Exp. 2 a control for possible testing effects was added, and participants were given a recognition test with no preceding recall test. Qualitative judgements (Remember vs Know) regarding words judged as old on the recognition test were also collected in Exp. 2. Both experiments showed that false memories were more likely when weak verbatim items occurred along with strong gist (as with common words) than only with weak gist encoding (as with rare words). Moreover, participants were more likely to choose falsely physically similar distractors for rare words than for common words. Semantically similar distractors, on the other hand, were more likely to be selected for common than for rare words. These results provide further support for the fuzzy trace theory explanation of false memories. However, some weaknesses of this model regarding false memories are also discussed.

scholarly journals Falsas Memórias e Demência na Terceira Idade

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastião Mauricio Bianco ◽  
Lilian Milnitsky Stein ◽  
Giovanni Kuckartz Pergher
Keyword(s):  
Elderly Population ◽  
Cognitive Deficit ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Community Center ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽  
Diagnostic Hypothesis ◽  
Rigorous Test

Resumo: O presente trabalho utilizou o procedimento das palavras associadas para a avaliação da memória de idosos normais e com suspeita de demência. Em uma população de idosos de um centro de convivência, não institucionalizados, após a aplicação de uma bateria de testes para avaliar critérios de inclusão, chegou-se a uma amostra final de 46 idosos, divididos em 21 com suspeita de demência e 25 sem suspeita, com idade média de 69,9 anos. Foi utilizado o procedimento de listas de palavras associadas, adaptado para o Brasil por Stein e Pergher (2001). Os dados apontaram para uma maior dificuldade dos participantes do grupo com suspeita de demência em diferenciar as memórias verdadeiras das falsas no teste de memória. Os resultados do presente estudo corroboraram as explicações da Teoria do Traço Difuso sobre o funcionamento mnemônico em idosos. Testes mais rigorosos para diferenciar os dois grupos, suspeitos e não suspeitos de demência são recomendáveis. Palavras-chave: Mini Exame. Estado Mental. Demência. Palavras Associadas. Falsas Memórias. Teoria do Traço Difuso. Abstract: Memory performance of elderly with diagnostic hypothesis of dementia and a control group was compared using the Paradigm of Associated Words. An elderly population of a community center was screened for cognitive deficit. After the screening phase we came up with a sample of 46 participants: 21 with diagnostic hypothesis of dementia and 25 without, mean age 69.9 years. An adapted version for Brazil of the word lists by Stein and Pergher (2001) was used to assess memory in both groups. The results indicated a greater difficulty in the group with diagnostic hypothesis of dementia to differentiate between targets from critical non presented words in the memory test. Our results are in line with Fuzzy Trace Theory account of false memories. More rigorous test to differentiate the two groups, with or without diagnostic hypothesis of dementia is recommended. Keywords: Mini Examination. Mental Status. Dementia. False Memories. Fuzzy Trace Theory.

Fuzzy-Trace Theory and False Memory: New Frontiers

1998 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie F. Reyna ◽  
C.J. Brainerd
Keyword(s):  
False Memory ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory
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