Assessing activation of true and false memory traces: A study using the DRM Paradigm

Abstract

This paper compares the activation of false memory traces with true memory traces and control items. An incidental learning version of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (DRM) is used in conjunction with a Lexical Decision Task (LDT). One hundred participants read 5 DRM lists intermixed with 4 non-word lists. After a delay manipulated into 3 experimental conditions (immediate, 3-minute and 10-minute), they were asked to classify actually studied items, CIs, new words and non words in an LDT. Results showed that, independent of the delay, the classification latency of the CIs was the same as that for actually studied words and that both were more active than matched control items. Moreover, results showed that the delay affects the activation of true and false memories at the same rate. Overall the results seem to support the hypothesis that false memories trace becomes additive traces that are integrated into the episodic memory, with the same features of the true memories.

Keywords

• false memory
• activation level
• lexical decision task
• DRM