FALSE MEMORY

False Memory

Cognitive Psychology
By Robbyn Wallace

2004

Abstract

The phenomenon of false memory became an important issue in the 1980’s and 1990’s. At that time, many patients asserted they recalled memories of being sexually assaulted as a child. In many cases, false memories had been suggested or implanted by analysts. False memory became important in resolving many court cases. Analysts became targets for lawsuits due to implantation of false memories. Early studies were performed to verify if false memory was possible. In the last years of the twentieth century, more studies were performed to learn about false memory and how it can be affected, developed, altered and recalled. The results of the latest studies show false memory can and does occur. It can be altered by outside influences. False memories can be forced out of memory. They can be recalled freely. Within the studies considered, none showed the impact of emotions on false memory. This report will reflect the publications of experiments considered and reviewed. But, as none of them conclude emotion may act as an outside influence for false memory, they do not go far enough. Clearly, there is a need for a study to determine how false memory can be influenced by emotion in real life situations.
 

False Memory

False memory does not exist. It occurs. False memories are formed or retrieved in an atmosphere conditioned by the emotional state of the subject during the time the event occurs. People use sensory details to distinguish their memories. Memory is the key component in understanding theories of cognition. Some memories are true. Some are a blend of fact and fantasy. Others are entirely false. Due to the reconstructive nature of memory, some memories may be distorted through influences such as the incorporation of new information. The resulting memories, not based in historical reality, have been called false memories, pseudo-memories and memory illusions. Memory abilities and limitations are vital to understanding problem solving, decision-making, attention, and perception. False memory may impair these abilities.
    
Every aspect of cognition depends upon memory. How well one remembers things is an important issue for theories of cognition. To understand problem solving, decision-making, attention and perception one must know the abilities and limitations of memory. Quality of memory is important for practical reasons. Many events rely upon reports from human observers. Memory accuracy is critical to eyewitness testimony in criminal trials. Witnesses to crimes must accurately recall details of a traumatic event. Without accurate recall, witnesses could describe details differently than viewed. It is difficult to access memory without objective evidence such as pictures or tape recordings. It is also important in day-to-day events such as spousal arguments concerning who said what. Technical and mundane tasks require accurate recognition of memories in everyday situations.
    
Memory can be highly affected by suggestion. How can one be sure of where a memory originates? Does it originate from one’s own recollections, someone else’s suggestion, a dream, and pictures? An example: Can you remember your first birthday? If so, is it truly your own recollection? Actual memories can be induced when a person is encouraged to imagine specific events with no concern as to whether the event actually occurred—as when under hypnosis. In many cases, imagining an event will increase a subject’s belief the event actually occurred. This report proposes that false memory exist as a condition of cognition. There are many different studies on the subject of false memory; however, there is a need for studies to include the effect of emotions on false memory.

Method

Three publications dealing with different factors affecting false memory are considered. The first publication studied the effects of manipulated studied and test modalities. The experimenter presented lists of words in auditory and visual modalities to participants. The second publication considers the affects of free and forced retrieval on false recall and recognition. By working in a controlled setting, there is greater control over variables that can be more easily identified and theories tested. The third publication deals with the affect of outside influences on false memory, by considering the effects of stress and personality traits. However, none of these studies consider the role that emotion play on false memories in real life conditions. 

The study conducted in the first publication compared states of awareness for both correct and false recognition’s across the four combinations of auditory and visual modalities at study and test. This experiment used fifty-six undergraduate students from several universities. The materials used were twelve of the 24 15-word lists used by Roediger and McDermott (199; Expt 2). (Maylor & Mo, 1999)

Maylor and Mo, the experimenters, developed several lists including critical theme words. In each of the lists, twelve words were used as critical theme words. For each study list the experimenters created a corresponding recognition test. Each of the twelve-item lists contained a critical theme word, seven studied words and four non-studied words. The critical theme words always appeared in a specific position on the list. They were always at the ninth, tenth, or eleventh position. Fifty-six students participated in the experiment. There were four experimental conditions. Assignment of the tests was performed randomly for the fifty-six student participants. (Maylor and Mo, 1999)

The participants were tested individually. Participants were instructed their memory would be tested on a series of word lists presented. They were informed whether the to-be-remembered words would be presented auditory or visually. Participants were required to count backwards aloud in threes from a randomly assigned 3-digit number for 15’s; this was required immediately after the presentation of each list. After each presentation of the list there was distracter task. Written responses were required. Participants then indicated whether each word was old (studied) or new (non-studied). They were asked to judge the level of awareness for each word considered as old. (Maylor & Mo, 1999)

In studying false memory, the experimenters studied remember, know and guess responses. The instructions they designed were based upon earlier studies. Remember responses were designed to be items with which the participants had experience and participants could recall something of that experience. Know responses were designed as items for which participants had no experience, but were confident they had studied the item. Guess responses were those for which participants had no experience or confidence of prior study. (Maylor and Mo, 1999)

The aim was to discover whether study and test modalities had consistent or opposite effects on correct and false memories. This experiment showed results that for auditory presentation at study, false recognition rates were lower than correct recognition rates. For visual presentation at study, correct recognition rates were lower than false recognition rates. (Maylor & Mo, 1999) “When study and test modalities match, stored sensory information can be used to enhance the correct recognition of studied words and to reduce the false recognition of critical lures. On the other hand, when study and test modalities differ, stored sensory information is less useful and so correct recognition is reduced and false cognition is increased.” (Maylor & Mo, 1999) Maylor and Mo demonstrated that false memory occurs across various combinations of auditory and visual modalities at study and test. This study confirms the occurrence of false memory by expansion of earlier studies.

The second publication emphasizes use of the DRMRS (Deese-Roediger-McDermott-Read-Solso or “drummers”) procedure. This procedure consists of using word lists to identify accurate and false recall. An alternative study determined there might be common processes in the DRMRS procedure and in real life. It is postulated that false recall can be processed during presentation, tests, or both. It is suggested that students recall more critical concepts as memories rather than studied list items. This theory has been strongly challenged various experimenters. By using forced methods for recall, participants may have relaxed standards for reporting critical concepts. Free retrieval developed more accurate recall. In other words, while false memory exists, it can be affected by the method of extraction.

The participants in this experiment were members of two psychology research methods classes, and they were assigned randomly to the free and forced retrieval instruction conditions. In the two conditions, participants for class one; there were 27 (free) and 26 (forced). The corresponding numbers in class two were 24 and 23. The lists were read in opposite order in class one than from class two. The materials consisted of six lists of 14 words associated with the central concepts (sleep, book, cold, eat, needle, and high), which the procedure was taken from the DRMRS procedure. This experiment constructed the cold list. The other lists were used from other studies constructed previously. (McKelvie, 2001)

The procedure used were two experimental groups that were given their retrieval instructions separately, in each class. The participants were then immediately brought together for testing in a single session. Both groups were told specifically how the experiment was to be conducted. They were also aware that they would have to immediately recall the items on each list in any order after it was read. In the free retrieval condition they were told to write down as many words as they could on the 14 spaces provided. The participants in the forced retrieval were to fill all 14 spaces. Class one and two were read the six lists in opposite order. The lists were read in order, depending on class, by the experimenter at a 3-s pace, with 2.5 min permitted for immediate written recall of each list. There was a rating scale to be completed after each word was recalled, which consisted of rating it for confidence. It was a 6-point scale: 4 – certain, 3 = very confident, 2 = reasonably confident, 1 = slightly confident, 0 = word written but no confidence it was on the list, -1 = word written but you think it was not on the list. The participants were required to rate each word they recalled. Once the participants completed the final list, they were then given an unannounced 18-word recognition test that contained three words pertinent to each of the six lists. (McKelvie, 2001)

The third publication references an experiment conducted in a laboratory setting where participants are shown pictures and words. It focuses on outside variables including stress imagery, trait anxiety and depression. The experimenters discuss hypnosis as a mental state variable, but relied more upon results from tests utilizing the variables of stress and trait anxiety. “A false memory in this task was defined as recalling as a picture, an item that had actually been presented as a word.” (Roberts, 2002)

The design of this experiment was to use the same questionnaires and to have the participants participate in the same memory task. Participants were tested early in the first semester and then late in the second semester prior to the end of year examinations, this allowed stress to be manipulated in a quasi-experimental way within participants. The experiment included 60 undergraduate students from Murdoch University. The materials and apparatus used in this experiment started with a set of 60 concrete nouns and 60 line drawings depicting these words, but in order to ensure that each drawing was identified with its associated verbal label there were five judges that were ask to name each picture. After the elimination process, the final set consisted of 50 words and pictures that were randomly assigned half to Set A and half to Set B. One set contained 25 words and the other set contained 25 pictures. There were four separate questionnaires used. The four questionnaires used were “The Speilberger (1969) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Beck (1987) Depression Inventory (BDI), the Questionnaire on Mental Imagery (QMI, Sheehan, 1967) and the Verbalizer-Visualizer Questionnaire (VVQ, Richardson, 1994)” (Roberts, 2002). 

The procedure in this experiment was to administer one testing session early in the first semester and one testing session late in the second semester prior to the participant’s first examination during final examinations. The second testing session occurred between seven and eight months from the first testing session. The tests were administered in-groups of two to 15 in a quiet room. Participants were told that the experiment was on how people classify objects. In the first testing session participants were exposed to Set A, and were exposed to Set B in the second testing session, which the order was switched per group. There were three phases per testing session. The slides of pictures and words were presented for five seconds each in the first phase, and between each slide there was a blank screen present for one second. The participants were told that their accuracy on this test would be scored. There were a total of 50 slides presented, of which at the end the participant had to record their tally of animate and inanimate objects on a response sheet. The participants filled out the QMI, VVQ, STAI and BDI, in that order, in the second phase of the experiment. Participants were asked to recall all the pictures that had previously been presented and to write the names of those pictures on the response sheet, this was done in phase three. Participants were told not to write the names of words previously presented, and only two minutes was allowed for this task. Then participants were given a two-minute break before completing the second task, which consisted of again recalling previous pictures and writing words for the picture on a different response sheet. Participants were finally asked to make a “remember” or “know” judgment to each of the items they had recalled on the second attempt of the recall task. The experiment had an approximate duration of 45 minutes. (Roberts, 2002)

Discussion

The various studies conducted established the existence of false memory. Two of the publications considered outside influences, which included the method of extracting false memory. The outside influences included stress, personality traits, and other factors. The publications did not consider the impact that emotions in real life situations have on false recall. Each publication was a giant step toward recognition and manipulation of false memory. By not including the filtering affect of emotions, the studies may not validate real life experiences. Emotions trigger how a memory etches itself into brain asymmetry, and the validity of its recall. What are emotions? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary emotions are: “a psychic and physical reaction (as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feelings and physiologically involving changes that prepare the body for immediate vigorous action.” Emotion can be the key component on whether or not a vivid memory is captured. In a scenario of a first date, where the person’s senses are heightened, they are more inapt to recall vivid details following the date. When the senses are at a more positive heightened state, memories seem to be captured more accurately. Understandably, highly negative emotions may trigger memory to be repressed. Emotions are an important factor on accurate recall; they can either diminish or enhance details of a memory. Further more, strong emotion can cause the development of false memories as a defense mechanism. Without considering the role emotions play on memory, one cannot conclude the accurate validity of false recall. However, each study done is a stepping-stone to better understanding of false memory. 

Conclusion

Freud postulated that many physical ailments of women patients were the result of sexual activity before the age of eight. The 1896 report shocked Europe. One year later, he abandoned his “seduction theory”, as there had been too many cases to be believable. In fact, it is possible Freud unwittingly implanted false memories during the interview process. (Fraser, 1994) There has been much controversy due to implantation of false memories during therapy, which led to numerous studies of false memory. The most commonly recognized false memory concerns was sexual abuse cases from childhood, being recalled during adulthood. In the 1980’s and 1990’s so many cases, of recalled child abuse, were brought to the attention of the public by news media. It became imperative for studies to determine the validity of previously unrecalled memories, due to the overwhelming publicity of recalled sexual abuse through therapy.

While various researchers employed different methodologies, similar conclusions about false memory were developed. Most studies were constructed through word or sentence recall tasks. They were primarily constructed with special distracters, which were used to help identify false memories. These special distracters were usually words or sentences that fit into the list or other sentences shown. There were also normal distracters, which may not have fit into the flow of the other words or sentences. Research on false memory included other test, which included color, pictures, videos, and sound. 

False memories can sometimes seem more valid than actual memories. In word structured studies confidence level of recall was higher for words that did not appear than for words that did appear. Interestingly, if people could have such confidence to recall words that did not appear in a list, then one cannot be certain of a person’s recall of an actual event.

References

Fraser, S. (1994, March). FREUD’S FINAL SEDUCTION. Saturday Night, 109(2), 19, 7.
 
Lampinen, J. M., Neuschatz, J. S., Payne, D. G. (Fall97/Winter98). MEMORY ILLUSIONS AND CONSCIOUSNESS: EXAMINING THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF TRUE AND FALSE MEMORIES. Current Psychology, 16(3/4), 181, 44.
 
Maylor, E. A., Mo, A. (1999, November). EFFECTS OF STUDY-TEST MODALITY ON FALSE RECOGNITION. Journal of Psychology, 90(4), 477, 17.
 
McKelvie, S. J. (2001, July). EFFECTS OF FREE AND FORCED RETRIEVAL INSTRUCTIONS ON FALSE RECALL AND RECOGNITION. Journal of General Psychology, 128(3), 261, 18.
 
Roberts, P. (2002). Vulnerability to False Memory: The Effects of Stress, Imagery, Trait Anxiety, and Depression. Current Psychology, 21(3), 240, 13.