Comparing Visual Memories to Novel Visual Input Risks Lasting Memory Distortion

Maintaining perceptual experiences in visual working memory (VWM) allows us to flexibly accomplish various tasks, but some tasks come at a price. For example, comparing VWM representations to novel perceptual inputs can induce inadvertent memory distortions. If these distortions persist, they may explain why everyday memories often become unreliable after people perform perceptual comparisons (e.g., eyewitness testimony). Here, we conducted two experiments to assess the consequences of perceptual comparisons using real-world objects that were temporarily maintained in VWM (n = 32) or recalled from long-term memory back into VWM (n = 30). In each experiment, young adults reported systematic memory distortions following perceptual comparisons. These distortions increased in magnitude with the delay between encoding and comparisons and were preserved when memories were retrieved again a day later. These findings suggest that perceptual comparisons play a mechanistic role in everyday memory distortions, including situations where memory accuracy is vital.

Understanding Older Adults' Memory Distortion in the Light of Stereotype Threat

Numerous studies have documented the detrimental impact of age-based stereotype threat (ABST) on older adults' cognitive performance and especially on veridical memory. However, far fewer studies have investigated the impact of ABST on older adults' memory distortion. Here, we review the subset of research examining memory distortion and provide evidence for the role of stereotype threat as a powerful socio-emotional factor that impacts age-related susceptibility to memory distortion. In this review we define memory distortion as errors in memory that are associated with gist-based errors or source misattributions. Whereas, some of the reviewed experiments support the conclusion that ABST should be considered in the context of age-related differences in memory distortion, others reported little or no impact of stereotype threat. These discrepancies suggest that the role of ABST, and socio-emotional processes generally, in age-related changes in memory distortion are less clear. In this review, we argue that ABST does play an important role in age-related changes in memory distortion. We present evidence suggesting that discrepancies in the reviewed literature may be reconciled when evaluated in the context of the leading theories about stereotype threat: the Executive Resource Depletion hypothesis and the Regulatory Focus theory. We also discuss how differences in methodology and participant characteristics can account for a priori contradictory results in the literature. Finally, we propose some recommendations for researchers and practitioners when assessing memory in older adults.

Hindsight Bias and Electoral Outcomes: Satisfaction Counts More Than Winner-Loser Status

The tendency to perceive outcomes as more foreseeable once they are available is a well-known phenomenon. However, research on the cognitive and motivational factors that induce individuals to overestimate the foreseeability of an electoral outcome has yielded inconsistent findings. In three studies based on large-scale electoral surveys (ITANES, Italian National Election Studies), we argued that the tendency to perceive an electoral outcome as foreseeable is positively and consistently associated with satisfaction with the outcome. Across all studies, satisfaction with the outcome was significantly and positively associated with retrospective foreseeability, above and beyond voters’ preference for a “winning” or “losing” party. In Study 3, a measure of memory distortion of pre-electoral forecasts was included, which was only weakly associated with retrospective foreseeability, but not with satisfaction for the outcome, supporting the notion of different levels of hindsight bias associated with different cognitive and motivational factors.

Protecting memory from misinformation: Warnings modulate cortical reinstatement during memory retrieval

Exposure to even subtle forms of misleading information can significantly alter memory for past events. Memory distortion due to misinformation has been linked to faulty reconstructive processes during memory retrieval and the reactivation of brain regions involved in the initial encoding of misleading details (cortical reinstatement). The current study investigated whether warning participants about the threat of misinformation can modulate cortical reinstatement during memory retrieval and reduce misinformation errors. Participants watched a silent video depicting a crime (original event) and were given an initial test of memory for the crime details. Then, participants listened to an auditory narrative describing the crime in which some original details were altered (misinformation). Importantly, participants who received a warning about the reliability of the auditory narrative either before or after exposure to misinformation demonstrated less susceptibility to misinformation on a final test of memory compared to unwarned participants. Warned and unwarned participants also demonstrated striking differences in neural activity during the final memory test. Compared to participants who did not receive a warning, participants who received a warning (regardless of its timing) demonstrated increased activity in visual regions associated with the original source of information as well as decreased activity in auditory regions associated with the misleading source of information. Stronger visual reactivation was associated with reduced susceptibility to misinformation, whereas stronger auditory reactivation was associated with increased susceptibility to misinformation. Together, these results suggest that a simple warning can modulate reconstructive processes during memory retrieval and reduce memory errors due to misinformation.

0116 Opposing Effects of Sleep on The Misinformation Effect: Sleep Promotes and Prevents Memory Distortion

Introduction The effect of sleep on false memory is equivocal. In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott illusory memory paradigm, some work shows that sleep increases false recall whereas other work shows that sleep decreases false recognition. Given these ambiguous findings, we sought to investigate the effect of sleep on false memory using the misinformation paradigm. Methods Participants watched a short film depicting a home burglary, received misinformation about the film, and were tested on their memory for the film. The recognition test was given after a 12-hour retention interval that included either sleep or wake. We manipulated the time at which participants received misinformation. Half were given misinformation after encoding (before sleep or wake) and the other half were given misinformation after the retention interval (after sleep or wake). Results There was a main effect of condition on correct recognition; participants in the sleep group showed higher correct recognition than those in the wake group. On false memory, there was a main effect of timing of misinformation and an interaction between condition and timing of misinformation. That is, the effect of sleep on false memory depended on when misinformation was administered. If misinformation was given after the retention interval, false memory tended to be lower after sleep than wake whereas if misinformation was given before the retention interval, false memory tended to be higher after sleep than wake. Conclusion Sleep can both protect against and facilitate memory distortion depending on when misinformation is encountered. These results inform our understanding of consolidation processes. When consolidation acts on true memory alone, it strengthens that memory making it resistant to distortion. Conversely, when misinformation is presented before consolidation, sleep may integrate misinformation into memory for the true event, increasing distortion. This work has important theoretical implications for memory consolidation and important applied implications for interrogation practices. Support N/A

Recovered memories and false memories

This chapter provides a brief review of the history and elements of the controversy surrounding the reality of repression and recovery of memories of sexual abuse and other traumatic events. The main body of the chapter concerns the mechanisms through which false memories of such events can be formed. These include the importance of culturally prevalent misconceptions regarding the operation of memory, suggestion in the context of therapy and other social interactions, prominent books promoting misconceptions regarding memory and abuse, and processes that can alter or create elements of memory (belief, sensory images, and the criteria by which these are judged as memories or not). Suggestions are offered for how claims of repressed and recovered memories should be treated in court and for practices with potential for memory distortion that should be avoided.

Taking the Bait: Interrogation questions about hypothetical evidence may inflate perceptions of guilt

During suspect interviews, police will sometimes ask about hypothetical incriminating evidence to evoke a cue to deception – a technique known as a bait question. Previousresearch has demonstrated such questions can distort peoples’ memory for what evidence exists in a case. Here, we investigate whether such memory distortion can also cause people to see the suspect as more likely to be guilty. Across three experiments, we find exposure to bait questions led to participants hold inflated views of a suspect’s guilt. Further, we demonstrate bait questions cause reliable, robust memory distortion, leading participants to believe non-existent, incriminating evidence exists. However, we found no evidence to support the speculated mechanisms for this inflation – namely, (1) that source monitoring errors could lead people to misremember false evidence as real evidence and (2) that bait questions provide “key evidence” to fill in the gaps of anincomplete theory of a case. In sum, bait questions have the problematic potential to shift jurors towards guilty verdicts. We suggest future research directions on bait questions, including the need for different designs to clarify why bait questions inflate guilt, and recommend practitioners avoid the use of bait questions.