Structure and strategy in the associative false memory paradigm

Abstract

List-learning experiments can have several levels of structure: individual words, the gist (if any) of each list, and the task in which those lists are embedded. The usual presentation of the DRM associative paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) strongly encourages a focus on gist and produces a high rate of false recall of key words (FRK). The experiments reported here were designed to invite the use of memory strategies based on structures other than the gist and thus reduce FRK. The crucial condition of Experiment 1, short lists followed by rehearsal, encouraged a focus on individual words and produced a low rate of FRK. In Experiment 2, the lists were embedded in a guessing game, which virtually eliminated FRK. FRK was also low in Experiments 3a and 3b when participants engaged in a complex task involving the first letters of list words. The relevance of these findings to false memories in the DRM and the connection of false autobiographical memories is discussed.