Abstracts 2005 - The Psychonomic Society

Posters 3044–3050 Friday Evening
pus, MATTHEW G. RHODES, Washington University, & HARPREET
BAHIA, Arizona State University, West Campus—The present study
investigated the impact of memory monitoring on false recognition in
the DRM paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995).
Participants were given either a recall test or an opposition task immediately
after each list presentation. In the opposition task, participants
were instructed to write down words that were related to the presented
word list but that had not themselves been previously
presented. The opposition task was employed to encourage memory
monitoring. Participants were later given a yes/no recognition test in
order to assess memory for the presented lists. Results indicated that
the opposition task was effective at reducing false memories, but only
for those critical lures that were identified as nonpresented items during
encoding.
(3044)
Does Distinctive Visual Information Enhance Monitoring of False
Memories? JASON ARNDT, Middlebury College, ASHLEY OS-
BORNE, Duke University, & MEGHAN STONE, JOHN CARNEY, &
KAREN LEE, Middlebury College—Two experiments evaluated the
role of encoding-based and retrieval-based factors in the production
of false recognition in the DRM paradigm. The first experiment varied
the association of unusual-looking fonts with DRM themes (correlated
or not correlated) and the duration of time allotted for subjects
to utilize retrieval monitoring. The second experiment manipulated
whether the font in which an unstudied lure item was presented at test
was used to present strong or weak associates of the lure, as measured
by backward associative strength. The combined results of these experiments
suggest that subjects utilize visual format as a retrieval cue
in an effort to distinguish between studied and unstudied items but
that this monitoring strategy can be harmful when lure activation during
encoding leads to the development of associations between fonts
used to present study items and lure item representations.
(3045)
False Recall in the DRM Paradigm for Word and/or Pseudohomophone
Lists. MICHAEL J. CORTESE & ILIJA VELJKOVIC, College
of Charleston, & MAYA M. KHANNA, University of Michigan—The
role of plausibility in false recall in the DRM paradigm was examined
using free recall. Presentation lists consisted of words, pseudohomophones
(e.g., dreem), or both words and pseudohomophones. When
participants were instructed to write down items as they appeared during
study (Experiment 1), the proportion of false recall was higher for
both word and mixed lists than for pseudohomophone lists. However,
in verbal recall (Experiment 2), the three list conditions produced similar
levels of false recall. We posit that Experiment 1 yielded less false
recall for pseudohomophone lists because items activated in memory
were correctly spelled and, thus, represented implausible events in a
pseudohomophone context. Interestingly, in the pseudohomophone
condition, when participants did report critical items, they usually
spelled them as pseudohomophones. In Experiment 2, critical items
activated in memory were indistinguishable from list words in the
pseudohomophone condition, because the task probed verbal, rather
than orthographic, information.
(3046)
Differences in False Recognition From DRM and Categorized Lists:
Associative Activation or Gist? BENTON H. PIERCE, Texas A&M
University, Commerce, DAVID A. GALLO, University of Chicago,&
DANIEL L. SCHACTER, Harvard University—False recognition
from DRM lists (e.g., core, orchard, pie, . . .) is consistently found to
be greater than that from categorized lists (e.g., pear, peach, orange,
. . .). To test whether this difference (DRM > categorized) is attributable
to differences in associative strength or to differences in semantic
gist, we created DRM lists and categorized lists that were related
to the same critical lure (e.g., apple) and were equated on backward
associative strength (via association norms). Using a standard old/new
recognition test, we found equivalent levels of false recognition for the
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two list types. A meaning recognition test, however, revealed that critical
lures from categorized lists cued the gist of the list more frequently
than did DRM critical lures. This interaction supports the idea
that stronger associative connections, as opposed to greater semantic
gist, are responsible for the greater false recognition levels commonly
found for DRM-type lists than for categorized lists.
(3047)
Impact of Exposure to Evidence on False Confessions to Actions.
MICHELLE CARBUTO & LINDA A. HENKEL, Fairfield University—
Certain interrogation tactics (e.g., showing suspects pictures from a
crime scene) can contribute to the incidence of false confessions.
Using an experimental paradigm modeled after “imagination inflation”
studies, this experiment investigated the impact of the presentation
of false evidence on people’s memory for which actions were actually
performed. Subjects performed and imagined performing
various actions that would leave behind evidence that the action had
been completed (e.g., tear the card in half, crumple the paper). Later,
they were exposed to photographs (zero, one, or three times) showing
some of the imagined actions in a state of completion. One week later,
they had to indicate which actions had been actually performed. Results
indicated that the presentation of evidence increased source errors
for imagined events: Subjects were more likely to falsely claim
to have performed actions that were in fact imagined when photographic
evidence of the completed actions had been shown.
(3048)
Emotion Above Semantic Relatedness: Explaining Memory Illusion.
LILIAN M. STEIN, GUSTAVO ROHENKOHL, & RENATO F. SAN-
TOS, Pontifical Catholic University, Rio Grande do Sul—Semantic
relatedness has been used to explain false memory phenomena in the
Deese/Roediger–McDermott paradigm. The present experiment
tested the effect of emotional valence on memory illusion independently
of semantic relatedness. Two hundred eighty-five Brazilian college
students were presented with 12 lists of semantic associates (3
positive, 6 neutral, 3 negative). Semantic relatedness (backward and
forward association strength) was equated across the three emotional
valence groups of lists. Results indicated that emotional valence
seemed to produce a differential effect on true and false recognition.
An immediate memory test yielded more false recognition responses
to critical nonpresented associate words in negative lists than to those
in both neutral and positive lists. Turning to veridical memory, participants
produced higher hit rates for presented words from both positive
and negative lists, as compared with neutral lists. The differential
effect of emotional valence on true and false recognition is
explained in light of current theories of memory.
(3049)
The Effect of Gesture on Memory and the Creation of False Memories.
JENNIFER L. TOMES & KAREN G. NICHOLSON, Mount
Allison University—In the Deese/Roediger–McDermott paradigm, subsequent
to learning semantically related words (bed, dream, etc.), participants
falsely remember other semantically related words not on the
original lists (sleep; i.e., “critical lures”). We examined whether producing
gestures that relate to each word during learning would reduce
false memory for critical lures. Participants (n = 150) were presented
with 10 lists of 10 semantically related words. Half the participants were
asked to generate a related gesture for each word. Subsequently, participants
were asked to make old/new discriminations for items on a test
list. Results showed that the gesture group correctly recognized significantly
more words that were actually on the lists than did the no-gesture
group. In contrast, the no-gesture group falsely recognized significantly
more critical lures than did the gesture group. The results are discussed
in terms of how gesture production might influence the activation of
semantic networks thought to mediate the false memory effects.
(3050)
The Effects of Retrieval Practice on False Recall. KIMBERLY K.