Encoding Perceptual Features in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott Paradigm: Different Consequences for Studied Items and False Memories

For the last decades, the factors increasing or decreasing the frequency of false memories have been of great interest. Some research also examined the effect of stress and warning on the true and false recognitions; however, so far most of the studies have yielded contradictory results or seems inadequate to understand the effect of these factors on false memory phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to examine the joint effects of stress and warning on the frequency of false and true memories elicited by the list-learning paradigm. The word lists derived from the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm were used in order to measure false and true recognition rates. Participants (N = 126) were exposed to either the Trier Social Stress Test (a stress condition) or a filler task at the beginning of the experiment (no-stress condition). Then, they were either subjected to a warning about false memories before DRM (pre-warning condition), subjected to a warning about false memories after DRM (post-warning condition), or given no warning at all (no-warning condition). Results showed that stress had a statistically significant effect on true recognition but not on false recognition. Furthermore, warning given after the DRM lists had a decreasing effect on the frequency of false memories. No significant interaction effect between stress and warning was found. Although our hypotheses were not confirmed, this study can contribute to the existing body of research by providing evidence that stress and warning have differential effects on both true and false memories derived from the DRM paradigm.

Associated word list procedures can elicit false memories in predictable ways by inducing associative processing, thus making it harder to monitor the accuracy of memories. The purpose of the method presented here was to induce false memories using lists of either semantically or phonologically related words and to assess the effects of imagery instructions on the recall and recognition of those false memories. To do this, we used a modified version of the Deese Roediger McDermott (DRM) paradigm. We adapted word lists from previous DRM studies to suit imagery procedures and created an automated presentation to present the word lists in classroom settings. We then recruited undergraduate classes and instructed some of the classes to create mental images of the list words as they were being presented, while instructing the other classes to simply remember the words. The automated presentation presented word lists to participants, one word at a time, alternating between phonologically and semantically related lists. Participants used paper-pencil recall packets to immediately recall list items, complete a distractor activity, and take a subsequent final recognition test. Often, participants immediately recalled and later recognized words that were related to the list items but were not actually presented; these are known as critical lures and indicate a false memory. The protocol detailed here describes a four-step procedure - list presentation, immediate recall, distractor phase, and final recognition - that can assess the effects of list type and imagery instruction within the DRM paradigm on memory. The automated nature of the list presentation provides the ability to systematically vary variables of interest, and the paper and pencil method of data collection affords an easily accessible method for collecting data in classroom settings. The protocol also offers options to modify the procedure to a more traditional DRM paradigm without imagery and/or list type manipulations. The use of this protocol can provide results relevant to both classroom learning and cognitive science principles.

False memories have been extensively investigated over the past few decades using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. In this paradigm, participants study lists of words associatively related to a non-presented critical lure. During a memory test, these critical lures are falsely recalled or recognized. Most studies have focused on false memories that arise when both encoding and retrieval are conducted in the same language (i.e., within-language conditions), which is typically the participant's native or first language (L1). However, much less is known about false memories when critical lures appear in the memory test in a different language than the studied lists (i.e., between-language conditions), being one of them the participant's second language (L2). The main objective of this exhaustive review was to provide an overview of the current state of research on false recognition using the DRM paradigm in between-language conditions, where languages are switched between encoding and retrieval (i.e., L1L2 versus L2L1). The results revealed a language dominance effect in between-language false memories. In other words, false recognition rates were dependent on the study language, with a trend toward higher false recognition when words were enconded in the L1 (L1L2) compared to when words were encoded in the L2 (L2L1). This review enhances our understanding of how studying words in a first or second language affects false memory in the DRM paradigm, emphasizing the significance of investigating false memory in second language speakers and the necessity for further research in the field.

In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, participants falsely recall or recognize a nonpresented word (critical lure), highly associated with previously studied words. As numerous DRM studies have found a robust false memory effect at the behavioural level, event-related potentials (ERPs) studies have searched for possible overlapping in brain electrical activity between true and false memory. Using the DRM paradigm, the present experiment manipulated the sensory modality of stimulus presentation (auditory vs. visual) in the study phase to analyse the effect of modality match between study and test on true and false recognition. Words were therefore presented either visually or auditorily at study and always visually at test. True recognition was found to be significantly higher in the modality 'match' condition (visual-visual) than in the 'mismatch' condition (auditory-visual), whereas there was no modality-match effect on false recognition of critical lures. A general, overlapping was found between ERP correlates of true and false recognition: FN400 (300-500 ms), left-parietal (400-800 ms) and late right-frontal (1000-1500 ms) old/new effects were similar for both studied words and critical lures. No sensory modality-match effect was associated with FN400 or left-parietal old/new effects. Only the late right-frontal activity was modulated by modality manipulation, with significantly more positive ERPs in the modality-match condition. Sensory modality match of stimulus presentation, therefore, dissociated true and false recognition memory only at the behavioural level but not at the ERP level. Overall, true and false recognition memories seem to share common underlying processes.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to determine the effects of level of processing on true and false memory, using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. In the DRM paradigm, lists of words highly associated to a single nonpresented word (the 'critical lure') are studied and, in a subsequent memory test, critical lures are often falsely remembered. Lists with three critical lures per list were auditorily presented here to participants who studied them with either a shallow (saying whether the word contained the letter 'o') or a deep (creating a mental image of the word) processing task. Visual presentation modality was used on a final recognition test. True recognition of studied words was significantly higher after deep encoding, whereas false recognition of nonpresented critical lures was similar in both experimental groups. At the ERP level, true and false recognition showed similar patterns: no FN400 effect was found, whereas comparable left parietal and late right frontal old/new effects were found for true and false recognition in both experimental conditions. Items studied under shallow encoding conditions elicited more positive ERP than items studied under deep encoding conditions at a 1000-1500 ms interval. These ERP results suggest that true and false recognition share some common underlying processes. Differential effects of level of processing on true and false memory were found only at the behavioral level but not at the ERP level.

Influence of suggestion in the DRM paradigm: What state of consciousness is associated with false memory?

Many studies have demonstrated the power of schema or knowledge structure in organizing incoming information, which led to various kinds of memory errors. This chapter examines how participants' prior knowledge affects memory errors and explores the DRM paradigm to examine false memory produced by a group of industrial design experts as compared to the control group. C. L. McEvoy, D. L. Nelson, and T. Komatsu looked at the influence of preexisting knowledge on the production of false memory. The chapter investigates whether domain specific knowledge would induce or reduce false memories. A group of experts and novices were tested on words either related or unrelated to their knowledge of expertise. Age had an effect on the false recognition of commo n words, while the rate of false recognition of design-related terms was mainly determined by participants' domain knowledge. These results support the view that domain knowledge plays an important role in creating false memory.

False memories refer to falsely remembering something that did not happen or that happened differently. The effects of age on episodic memory underlie both the decline in real memories and the increase in false memories. But, what is the richness and what is the feeling of reality of false memories in the elderly? This mini-review on false memory in young and older adults presents the results from the literature using one of the most used paradigms in the laboratory to study false memories - the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. This paradigm generally consists in the presentation of semantically associated items-lists (words or images) related to a non-presented critical lure (e.g., bed, rest, awake …, the critical lure is sleep). During free recall or recognition tests, the participants regularly produce false memories (intrusions or false recognitions of the critical lures), increasingly with aging. We specifically ask the question of the richness of the false memory trace in young and older adults in terms of contextual associations (What-Where-When-Details binding) and phenomenological characteristics (remembering, knowing, guessing). We propose to examine this issue using a naturalistic episodic memory task via navigation in a virtual environment enriched with series of associated elements (e.g., vegetables stand) linked to non-presented critical lures (e.g., carrots). Based on preliminary results, we propose an integrative model of memory trace which can explain the differences observed between young and old people on the richness of their false memories.

The production of false memories (FMs) is a normal phenomenon, which can be affected in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Only few studies investigated FMs in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). The aim of our preliminary study was to assess FMs in patients with DLB and to identify the underlying cognitive deficits influencing the production of FMs in DLB and AD. Ten AD patients and nine DLB patients performed a memory task (free recall and recognition) coupling two paradigms, namely the DRM (Deese-Roediger-McDermott) paradigm, promoting the production of FMs and the "Remember/Know" (R/K) paradigm, allowing to investigate the phenomenological experience during the recollection of a memory. A standard cognitive evaluation of memory, executive and instrumental functions completed the assessment. No FM was found in the DLB group during free recall, while the number of FMs was substantially identical in both groups during recognition. However, FMs differed from the phenomenological experience, with more K responses in DLB patients and more R responses in AD patients. None of the tests of the standard neuropsychological evaluation did correlate with measures of interest of FMs. In AD patients, the R responses associated with FMs reflect an alteration of the source memory. In DLB patients, the critical item lead to a sense of familiarity, without recollection of the circumstances in which the item was encoded, hence the K responses. This indicates a preservation of their source memory. Contrary to expectations, the type of FMs in both groups was not correlated to their cognitive profile. Hence, cognitive processes underlying the FMs appear to be different in AD and the LBD, but FMs seem independent of memory and executive abilities in these diseases.

Memory is prone to illusions. When people are presented with lists of words associated with a non-presented critical lure, they produce a high level of false recognitions (false memories) for non-presented related stimuli indistinguishable, at the explicit level, from presented words (DRM paradigm). We assessed whether true and false DRM memories can be distinguished at the implicit level by using the autobiographical IAT (aIAT), a novel method based on indirect measures that permits to detect true autobiographical events encoded in the respondent’s mind/brain. In our experiment, after a DRM task participants performed two aIATs: the first aimed at testing implicit memory for presented words (true-memories aIAT) and the second aimed at evaluating implicit memory for critical lures (false-memories aIAT). Specifically, the two aIATs assessed the association of presented words and critical lures with the logical dimension “true.” Results showed that the aIAT detected a greater association of presented words than critical lures with the logical dimension “true.” This result indicates that although true and false DRM memories are indistinguishable at the explicit level a different association of the true and false DRM memories with the logical dimension “true” can be detected at the implicit level, and suggests that the aIAT may be a sensitive instrument to detect differences between true and false DRM memories.

Are elevated rates of false recall and recognition in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm associated with false autobiographical memories in everyday life? To investigate this issue, the authors recruited participants who reported improbable memories of past lives and compared their DRM performance with that of control participants who reported having lived only one life (i.e., their current one). Relative to control participants, those reporting memories of past lives exhibited significantly higher false recall and recognition rates in the DRM paradigm, and they scored higher on measures of magical ideation and absorption as well. The groups did not differ on correct recall, recognition, or intelligence. False memory propensity in the DRM paradigm may tap proneness for developing false memories outside the laboratory.

The current research investigated one possible mechanism underlying false memories in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. In the DRM paradigm, participants who study lists of related words (e.g., “table, sitting, bench …”) frequently report detailed memories for the centrally related but non-presented critical lure (e.g., “chair”). One possibility is that participants covertly call to mind the critical non-presented lure during the study phase, and later misattribute memory for this internally generated event to its external presentation. To investigate this, the DRM paradigm was modified to allow collection of on-line thoughts during the study phase. False recognition increased following generation during study. False recognition also increased following study of longer lists; this effect was partially explained by the fact that longer lists were more likely to elicit generations of the critical lure during study. Generation of the lure during study contributes to later false recognition, although it does not explain the entire effect.

This study aimed to investigate the role of emotion and working memory capacity (WMC) on false memory by measuring memory sensitivity independently of response bias. We used the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm in which arousal levels were kept constant across positive, negative, and neutral word lists associated with unstudied critical lures. Participants' WMC was measured by the Operation Span Task. Although negative critical lures generated significantly more false recognition (i.e., false-alarm rates) compared to positive or neutral ones, Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis based on signal detection theory showed that this effect could be ascribed to shifts in bias rather than actual memory sensitivity. Data revealed that the DRM effect is a robust illusion influenced by neither emotion nor WMC in terms of memory sensitivity. However, negative words led to a prominent increase in liberal bias to say "old" for both critical and noncritical lures. Furthermore, reaction time (RT) data suggested that mentally activated but actually unstudied critical lures were monitored as old words and that participants were faster to accept negative critical lures than positive or neutral ones, suggesting that the DRM illusion was clearly reflected on the RT data as well. These results were discussed emphasizing the role of negative emotion on response bias in recognition memory.

In two experiments, we investigated whether re-exposure to previously studied items at test affects false recognition in the DRM paradigm. Furthermore, we examined whether exposure to the critical lure at test influences memory for subsequently presented study items. In Experiment 1, immediately following each studied DRM list, participants were given a recognition test. The tests were constructed such that the number of studied items preceding the critical lure varied from zero to five. Neither false recognition for critical lures nor accurate memory for studied items was affected by this manipulation. In Experiment 2, we replicated this pattern of results under speeded conditions at test. Both experiments confirm that exposure to previously studied items at test does not affect true or false recognition in the DRM paradigm. This pattern strongly suggests that retrieval processes do not influence false recognition in the DRM paradigm.

In the globalized world we live in, it is increasingly common for people to speak more than one language. Although research in psychology has been widely interested in the study of false memories with the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, to date, there is a scarcity of studies comparing false memories in the first and the second language (L1 and L2, respectively). It is noteworthy that one of the most studied variables in the DRM paradigm, the backward associative strength (BAS), has hardly been studied in the L2. Moreover, the only study that recently examined this matter found differences in the knowledge of L2-word meaning between the high-BAS and low-BAS lists, which would hinder the interpretation of the BAS effect in L2 false memories. Taking all this into account, the current work examined false memories in the L1 (Spanish) and the L2 (English) as a function of BAS overcoming the limitations of the previous study. We selected DRM lists using both Spanish and English free association norms and lists were constructed to vary in BAS values while controlling the knowledge of word meaning. Results showed that false recognition was greater in the L1 or dominant language than in the L2 or non-dominant language. Furthermore, BAS modulated the false recognition in both the L1 and the L2. That is, false recognition was higher in high-BAS than low-BAS lists in both languages. Sensitivity index from the signal-detection theory helped us gain further insight into these results. The main findings are discussed in the light of theoretical models from both the false memory and the second language processing literature. Finally, practical implications and future research are provided.