Abstract
Human memory can be unreliable, and when reading a sentence with a pragmatic implication, such as “the karate champion hit the cinder block,” people often falsely remember that the karate champion “broke” the cinder block. Yet, research has shown that encoding instructions affect the false memories we form. On the one hand, instructing participants to imagine themselves manipulating the to-be-recalled items increase false memories (imagination inflation effect). But on the other hand, instructions to imagine have reduced false memories in the DRM paradigm (imagination facilitation effect). Here, we explored the effect of imaginal encoding with pragmatic inferences, a way to study false memories for information about everyday actions. Across two experiments, we manipulated imaginal encoding through the instructions given to participants and the after-item filler task (none vs. math operations). In Experiment 1, participants were either assigned to the encoding condition of imagine+no filler; pay attention+math; or memorize+math. In Experiment 2, the encoding instructions (imagine vs. memorize) and the filler task (none vs. math) were compared across four separate conditions. Results from the two experiments showed that imagination instructions lead to better memory, by showing a higher proportion of correct responses and better performance in a memory benefit index. Similarly, a significant reduction of false memories was observed across both experiments, even though a complementary Bayesian analysis only supported this conclusion for Experiment 1. The findings show that imaginal encoding improves memory, suggesting the engagement of a distinctiveness heuristic and source-monitoring process.
Highlights
Participants showed a higher proportion of correct responses, and a lower proportion of pragmatic inference errors
To determine if the benefit of imagination comes from the longer time to rehearse or from a reliable effect of the instruction to imagine, we ran a second experiment in which we improved methodological control and compared four different conditions resulting from the crossing of two factors: the encoding instruction and the filler task
The purpose of this research was to explore the effect of imagination as an encoding strategy on false memories induced by pragmatic inference sentences
Summary
When reading the sentence “the karate champion hit the cinder block” we might very often infer that the cinder block was broken, this outcome was not explicitly stated in the sentence. The generation of inferences depends on constructive non-intentional processes that often lead to memory errors and distortions (Carpenter and Schacter, 2017). The use of sentences embedded with pragmatic implications, such as the previous example is a useful way to induce false memories for everyday. Imagination Facilitates Memory for Pragmatic Inferences actions and to study the reconstructive nature of memory. This article explores the consequences of different encoding instructions in memory retrieval for information on day-to-day actions using the pragmatic inference paradigm. Given the damaging consequences of inaccurate memories, it is of great interest to understand the mechanisms behind memory for pragmatic inferences
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