Implicit False Memory: Effects of Modality and Multiple Study Presentations on Long-Lived Semantic Priming

Abstract

In the Deese paradigm, studying a list of semantic associates (holiday, beach, etc.) produces false explicit memory for a nonpresented lure (vacation). Here, we examine false memory with implicit retrieval. Experiment 1 tested memory for lures and matched on-list targets, using stem completion (implicit) and stem-cued recall (explicit). We replicated McDermott's (1997) finding of implicit false memory at a 10-min delay, using better controls for explicit contamination. In Experiment 2, we show that this semantic priming is modality-specific (on the visual test, lure priming was reduced with auditory study of the semantic associates), consistent with the perceptual nature of stem completion. In Experiment 3, additional study presentations reduced false memory with explicit, but not implicit, retrieval, consistent with suppression of gist-based responses by veridical information only when explicit retrieval is required. Results also dissociate implicit and explicit false memory and demonstrate similarities between false and true memories with implicit retrieval.