False memories: Phenomena, theories, and implications

Journal of Psychology

Volumn 215, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 12-24

  Steffens, Melanie Caroline ^a   Mecklenbräuker, Silvia ^b  

^a FRIEDRICH SCHILLER UNIVERSITY JENA   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TRIER   (Germany)

Author keywords

DRM paradigm; False memory; Fuzzy trace theory; Repression; Source monitoring

Indexed keywords

EID: 34548245511     PISSN: 00443409     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1027/0044-3409.215.1.12     Document Type: Article

References (108)

1. Alba, J.W., & Hasher, L. (1983). Is memory schematic? Psychological Bulletin, 93, 203-231.
2. Anaki, D., Faran, Y., Ben-Shalom, D., & Henik, A. (2005). The false memory and the mirror effects: The role of familiarity and backward association in creating false recollections. Journal of Memory and Language, 52, 87-102.
3. Anderson, M.C., & Green, C. (2001). Suppressing unwanted memories by executive control. Nature, 410, 366-369.
4. Anderson, R.E. (1984). Did I do it or did I only imagine doing it? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 594-613.
5. Baddeley, A.D. (1982). Domains of recollection. Psychological Review, 89, 708-729.
6. Bahrick, H.P., Hall, L.K., & Berger, S.A. (1996). Accuracy and distortion in memory for high school grades. Psychological Science, 7, 265-271.
7. Banaji, M.R., & Kihlstrom, J.F. (1996). The ordinary nature of alien abduction memories. Psychological Inquiry, 7, 132-135.
8. Bartlett, F.C. (1932). Remembering: A study in experimental and social psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
9. Bass, E., & Davis, L. (1992). Trotz allem. Wege zur Selbstheilung für sexuell mißbrauchte Frauen [The courage to heal. A guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse]. Berlin: Orlanda Frauenverlag.
10. Bäuml, K.H. (in press). Making memories unavailable: The inhibitory power of retrieval. Zeitschrift für Psychologie.
11. Bjork, E.L., Bjork, R.A., & Anderson, M.C. (1998). Varieties of goal-directed forgetting. In J.M. Golding & C.M. MacLeod (Eds.), Intentional forgetting: Interdisciplinary approaches (pp. 103-137). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
12. Bower, G.H. (1992). How might emotions affect learning? In S.A. Christiason (Ed.), The handbook of emotion and memory: Research and theory (pp. 3-31). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
13. Brainerd, C.J., & Reyna, V.F. (2002). Fuzzy-trace theory and false memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 164-169.
14. Brainerd, C.J., & Reyna, V.F. (2004). Fuzzy-trace theory and memory development. Developmental Review, 24, 397-439.
15. Bransford, J.D., Franks, J.J., Morris, C.D., & Stein, B.S. (1979). Some general constraints on learning and memory research. In L.S. Cermac & F.I.M. Craik (Eds.), Levels of processing in human memory (pp. 331-354). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
16. Bremner, J., Shobe, K.K., & Kihlstrom, J.F. (2000). False memories in women with self-reported childhood sexual abuse: An empirical study. Psychological Science, 11, 333-337.
17. Burns, D.J. (1993). Item gains and losses during hypermnesic recall: Implications for the item-specific-relational information distinction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, 163-173.
18. Cabeza, R., & Lennartson, E.R. (2005). False memory across languages: Implicit associative response vs fuzzy trace view. Memory, 13, 1-5.
19. Ceci, S.J., & Bruck, M. (1993). Suggestibility of the child witness: A historical review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 403-439.
20. Clancy, S.A., Schacter, D.L., McNally, R.J., & Pitman, R.K. (2000). False recognition in women reporting recovered memories of sexual abuse. Psychological Science, 11, 26-31.
21. Coane, J.H., McBride, D.M., Raulerson, B.A. III, & Jordan, J.S. (2006). False memory in a short-term memory task. Experimental Psychology, 54, 62-70.
22. Deese, J. (1959). On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 17-22.
23. Dodd, M.D., & MacLeod, CM. (2004). False recognition without intentional learning. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 11, 137-142.
24. Dunning, D., & Sherman, D.A. (1997). Stereotypes and tacit inference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 459-471.
25. Fisher, R.P., & McCauley, M.R. (1995). Improving eyewitness testimony with the cognitive interview. In J.R. Graham & M.S. Zaragoza (Eds.), Memory and testimony in the child witness (pp. 141-159). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
26. Freyd, J.J., & Gleaves, D.H. (1996). "Remembering" words not presented in lists: Relevance to the current recovered/false memory controversy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22, 811-813.
27. Gallo, D.A. (2006). Associative illusions of memory. False memory research in DRM and related tasks. New York: Psychology Press.
28. Gallo, D.A., Bell, D.M., Beier, J.S., & Schacter, D.L. (2006). Two types of recollection-based monitoring in younger and older adults: Recall-to-reject and the distinctiveness heuristic. Memory, 2006, 14, 730-741.
29. Garry, M., & Gerrie, M.P. (2005). When photographs create false memories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 321-325.
30. Garry, M., Manning, C.G., Loftus, E.F., & Sherman, S.J. (1996). Imagination inflation: Imagining a childhood event inflates confidence that it occurred. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 3, 208-214.
31. Geraerts, E., Arnold, M.M., Lindsay, D.S., Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., & Hauer, B. (2006). Forgetting of prior remembering in persons reporting recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Science, 17, 1002-1008.
32. Geraerts, E., Smeets, E., Jelicic, M., van Heerden, J., & Merckelbach, H. (2005). Fantasy proneness, but not self-reported trauma is related to DRM performance of women reporting recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Consciousness and Cognition, 14, 602-612.
33. Gleaves, D.H., Smith, S.M., Butler, L.D., & Spiegel, D. (2004). False and recovered memories in the laboratory and clinic: A review of experimental and clinical evidence. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 3-28.
34. Goff, L.M., & Roediger, H.L., III. (1998). Imagination inflation for action events: Repeated imaginings lead to illusory recollections. Memory and Cognition, 26, 20-33.
35. Hirt, E.R., Lynn, S., Payne, D.G., Krackow, E., & McCrea, S.M. (1999). Expectancies and memory: Inferring the past from what must have been. In I. Kirsch (Ed.), How expectancies shape experience (pp. 93-124). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
36. Hunt, R.R., & Einstein, G.O. (1981). Relational and item-specific information in memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20, 497-514.
37. Hutchison, K.A., & Balota, D.A. (2005). Decoupling semantic and associative information in false memories: Explorations with semantically ambiguous and unambiguous critical lures. Journal of Memory and Language, 52, 1-28.
38. Hyman, I.E., Husband, T.H., & Billings, F. (1995). False memories of childhood experiences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 9, 181-197.
39. Jacoby, L.L., Kelley, CM., & Dywan, J. (1989). Memory attributions. In H.L. Roediger III & F.I.M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory and consciousness: Essays in honour of Endel Tulving (pp. 391-422). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
40. James, W. (1890). Principles of psychology (Vol.1). London: MacMillan.
41. Johnson, M.K., Hashtroudi, S., & Lindsay, D.S. (1993). Source monitoring. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 3-28.
42. Johnson, M.K., & Raye, C.L. (2000). Cognitive and brain mechanisms of false memories and beliefs. In D.L. Schacter & E. Scarry (Eds.), Memory, brain and beliefs (pp. 35-86). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
43. Kemp, S., & Burt, C.D.B. (2006). Memories of uncertain origin: Dreamt or real? Memory, 14, 87-93.
44. Kimball, D.R., & Bjork, R.A. (2002). Influences of intentional and unintentional forgetting on false memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131, 116-130.
45. Kintsch, W. (1988). The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: A constructive-integration model. Psychological Review, 95, 163-182.
46. Klauer, K.C. (2000). Gedächtnis und Emotion [Memory and emotion]. In J.H. Otto, H.A. Euler, & H. Mandl (Eds.), Emotions-psychologie. Ein Handbuch. Weinheim: Beltz.
47. Koriat, A., Goldsmith, M., & Pansky, A. (2000). Toward a psychology of memory accuracy. Annual Review of Psychology, 57,481-537.
48. Koutstaal, W., Schacter, D.L., Johnson, M.K., & Galluccio, L. (1999). Facilitation and impairment of event memory produced by photograph review. Memory and Cognition, 27, 478-493.
49. Leichtman, M.D., & Ceci, S.J. (1995). The effects of stereotypes and suggestions on preschoolers' reports. Developmental Psychology, 31, 568-578.
50. Lindsay, D.S., Hagen, L., Read, J.D., Wade, K.A., & Garry, M. (2004). True photographs and false memories. Psychological Science, 15, 149-154.
51. Loftus, E.F. (1993). The reality of repressed memories. American Psychologist, 48, 518-537.
52. Loftus, E.F. (2003). Make-believe memories. American Psychologist, 58, 867-873.
53. Loftus, E.F. (2005a). Distortions of memory and the role of time. In A.-N. Perret-Clermont (Ed.), Thinking time: A multidisciplinary perspective on time (pp. 39-44). Bern: Hogrefe & Huber.
54. Loftus, E.F. (2005b). Planting misinformation in the human mind: A 30-year investigation of the malleability of memory. Learning and Memory, 12, 361-366.
55. Loftus, E.F., Feldman, J., & Dashiell, R. (1995). The reality of illusory memories. In D.L. Schacter (Ed.), Memory distortion: How minds, brains and societies reconstruct the past (pp. 47-68). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
56. Loftus, E.F., Garry, M., & Feldman, J. (1994). Forgetting sexual trauma: What does it mean when 38% forget? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 1177-1181.
57. Loftus, E.F., & Ketcham, K. (1994). The myth of repressed memory. New York: St. Martin's Press.
58. Lyle, K.B., & Johnson, M.K. (2006). Importing perceived features into false memories. Memory, 14, 197-213.
59. MacLeod, C. (1998). Directed forgetting. In J.M. Golding & C.M. MacLeod (Eds.), Intentional forgetting: Interdisciplinary approaches (pp. 1-57). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
60. MacLeod, C.M., Dodd, M.D., Sheard, E.D., Wilson, D.E., & Bibi, U. (2003). In opposition to inhibition. In B.H. Ross (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 43, pp. 163-214). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
61. Mazzoni, G.A.L., Loftus, E.F., & Kirsch, I. (2001). Changing beliefs about implausible autobiographical events: A little plausibility goes a long way. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 7, 51-59.
62. Mazzoni, G.A.L., & Memon, A. (2003). Imagination can create false autobiographical memories. Psychological Science, 14, 186-188.
63. McBride, D.M., Coane, J.H., & Raulerson, B.A., III. (2006). An investigation of false memory in perceptual implicit tasks, Acta Psychologica, 123, 240-260.
64. McCloskey, M., & Zaragoza, M. (1985). Misleading postevent information and memory for events: Arguments and evidence against memory impairment hypotheses. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 114, 1-16.
65. McDermott, K.B., & Watson, J.M. (2001). The rise and fall of false recall: The impact of presentation duration. Journal of Memory and Language, 45, 160-176.
66. McNally, R.J. (2005). Debunking myths about trauma and memory. Canadian Journal Psychiatry, 59, 817-822.
67. McNally, R.J., Lasko, N.B., Clancy, S.A., Macklin, M.L., Pitman, R.K., & Orr, S.P. (2004). Psychophysiological responding during script-driven imagery in people reporting abduction by space aliens. Psychological Science, 15, 493-497.
68. Memon, A., Holliday, R., & Hill, C. (2006). Pre-event stereotypes and misinformation effects in children. Memory, 14, 104-114.
69. Meyer Williams, L. (1994). Recall of childhood trauma: A prospective study of women's memories of child sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 1167-1176.
70. Nessler, D., & Mecklinger, A. (2003). ERP correlates of true and false recognition after different retention delays: Stimulus and response related processes. Psychophysiology, 40, 146-159.
71. Odegard, T.N., & Lampinen, J.M. (2006). Memory editing: Knowledge, criteria, and alignment. Memory, 14, 777-787.
72. Okado, Y., & Stark, C.E.L. (2005). Neural activity during encoding predicts false memories created by misinformation. Learning and Memory, 12, 3-11.
73. Ost, J. (2003). Seeking the middle ground in the "memory wars". British Journal of Psychology, 94, 125-139.
74. Ost, J., Foster, S., Costall, A., & Bull, R. (2005). False reports of childhood events in appropriate interviews. Memory, 13, 700-710.
75. Payne, J.D., Nadel, L., Allen, J.J.B., Thomas, K.G.F., & Jacobs, W.J. (2002). The effects of experimentally induced stress on false recognition. Memory, 10, 1-6.
76. Pezdek, K., & Hodge, D. (1999). Planting false childhood memories in children: The role of event plausibility. Child Development, 70, 887-895.
77. Piaget, J. (1962). Plays, dreams and imitation in childhood. (C. Cattegno & F.M. Hodgsen, Trans.). New York: Norton. (Original work published in 1945).
78. Pipe, M.-E., Lamb, M.E., Orbach, Y., & Esplin, P.W. (2004). Recent research on children's testimony about experienced and witnessed events. Developmental Review, 24, 440-468.
79. Pope, K.S. (1996). Memory, abuse, and science: Questioning claims about the False Memory Syndrome epidemic. American Psychologist, 51, 957-974.
80. Roediger, H.L., III. (1996). Memory illusions. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 76-100.
81. Roediger, H.L., III, & Gallo, D.A. (2003). Processes affecting accuracy and distortion in memory: An overview. In M.L. Eisen (Ed.), Memory and suggestibility in the forensic interview (pp. 3-28). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
82. Roediger, H.L., III, & McDermott, K.B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 803-814.
83. Roediger, H.L., in, Watson, J.M., McDermott, K.B., & Gallo, D.A. (2001). Factors that determine false recall: A multiple regression analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 8, 385-407.
84. Schacter, D.L. (1999). The seven sins of memory. American Psychologist, 54, 182-203.
85. Schacter, D.L., Norman, K.A., & Koutstaal, W. (1998). The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 289-318.
86. Schacter, D.L., & Slotnick, S.D. (2004). The cognitive neuroscience of memory distortion. Neuron, 44, 149-160.
87. Seamon, J.G., Berko, J.R., Sahlin, B., Yu, Y-L., Colker, J.M., & Gottfried, D.H. (2006). Can false memories spontaneously recover? Memory, 14, 415-423.
88. Seamon, J.G., Luo, C.R., Shulman, E.P., Toner, S.K., & Caglar, S. (2002). False memories are hard to inhibit: Differential effects of directed forgetting on accurate and false recall in the DRM procedure. Memory, 10, 225-237.
89. Sheard, E.D., & MacLeod, C.M. (2005). List method directed forgetting: Return of the selective rehearsal account. In N. Ohta, C.M. MacLeod, & B. Uttl (Eds.), Dynamic cognitive processes (pp. 219-248). Tokyo: Springer.
90. Slotnick, S.D., & Schacter, D.L. (2004). A sensory signature that distinguishes true from false memories. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 664-672.
91. Smeets, T., Merckelbach, H., Horselenberg, R., & Jelicic, M. (2005). Trying to recollect past events: Confidence, beliefs, and memories. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 917-934.
92. Spanos, N.P. (1996). Multiple identities and false memories. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
93. Spanos, N.P., Menary, E., Gabora, N.J., DuBreuil, S.C., & Dewhirst, B. (1991). Secondary identity enactments during hypnotic past-life regression: A sociocognitive perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 308-320.
94. Strange, D., Garry, M., & Sutherland, R. (2003). Drawing out children's false memories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17, 607-619.
95. Strange, D., Sutherland, R., & Garry, M. (2006). Event plausibility does not determine children's false memories. Memory, 14, 937-951.
96. Thomas, A.K., Bulevich, J.B., & Loftus, E.F. (2003). Exploring the role of repetition and sensory elaboration in the imagination inflation effect. Memory and Cognition, 31, 630-640.
97. Toglia, M.P., Neuschatz, J.S., & Goodwin, K. (1999). Recall accuracy and illusory memories: When more is less. Memory, 7, 233-256.
98. Tulving, E. (1983). Elements of episodic memory. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
99. Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychologist, 26, 1-12.
100. Tulving, E., & Thomson, D.M. (1973). Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory. Psychological Review, 80, 352-373.
101. Wade, K.A., Garry, M., Read, D.J., & Lindsay, D.S. (2002). A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 9, 597-603.
102. Wagenaar, W.A., & Groeneweg, J. (1990). The memory of concentration camp survivors. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 4, 77-87.
103. Watson, J.M., McDermott, K.B., & Balota, D.A. (2004). Attempting to avoid false memories in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm: Assessing the combined influence of practice and warnings in young and old adults. Memory and Cognition, 32, 135-141.
104. Westerberg, C.E., & Marsolek, C.J. (2006). Do instructional warnings reduce false recognition? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 97-114.
105. White, T.L., Leichtman, M.D., & Ceci, S.J. (1997). The good, the bad, and the ugly: Accuracy, inaccuracy, and elaboration in preschoolers' reports about a past event. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, 37-54.
106. Whittlesea, B.W.A., Masson, M.E.J., & Hughes, A.D. (2005). False memory following rapidly presented lists: the elements of surprise. Psychological Research, 69, 420-430.
107. Whittlesea, B.W.A., & Williams, L.D. (2000). The source of feelings of familiarity: The discrepancy-attribution hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 547-565.
108. Zaragoza, M.S., & Mitchell, K.J. (1996), Repeated exposure to suggestion and the creation of false memories. Psychological Science, 7, 294-300.