ABSTRACT Encoding lists of categorised words produces robust false memory for non-presented exemplars but few false memories for category labels. The present research examined the conditions under which categorical false memories can be elicited by variations in list composition in which a subset of category labels was presented for half of the lists. In Experiment 1, participants encoded lists of exemplars with or without the presence of category labels under full or divided attention conditions. Presentation of a subset of category labels produced false memories for non-presented labels and dividing attention reduced this effect. In Experiment 2, participants encoded lists as in Experiment 1 and prior to retrieval, were (or were not), given warnings about the nature of false memory effects and to avoid false memory errors. Categorical false memories arose when a subset of labels was encoded and warnings did not significantly reduce their magnitude, testifying to the robustness of this effect. Explanations are considered from the perspective of activation monitoring, fuzzy trace theory and how encoding and subsequent monitoring interact.

ABSTRACT Research on the saying-is-believing effect shows that individuals tune their messages to match the audience’s attitude and subsequently exhibit memory bias in the same direction. However, its implications in the context of collective memory remain understudied. Drawing on social identity theory, prior research suggests that people reconstruct memories of their group’s past selectively, emphasising positive aspects and minimising negative ones. Using a 2 × 2 factorial design, this study examined the saying-is-believing effect in national history by manipulating audience attitude (positive vs. negative) and message production (with vs. without message generation). Results show that the effect extends to national history, with participants tuning their messages and biasing their memory according to the audience’s attitude. However, those high in nationalism showed neither message tuning nor memory bias. These findings suggest that for individuals high in nationalism, social identity motivations override the epistemic and relational motives that typically drive the saying-is-believing effect.

ABSTRACT Utilising a two-character Chinese compound words list as task material, this study examines the effects of three combinations of deep and shallow encoding levels (operationalised via semantic and perceptual tasks, respectively) of two members within the same collaborative group on collaborative retrieval and subsequent individual memory. During the encoding phase, both the collaborative group and the nominal group conducted independent semantic or perceptual encoding. In the retrieval phase, the collaborative group engaged in collaborative retrieval and post-collaborative individual retrieval using three encoding combinations: semantic + semantic, perceptual + perceptual, and semantic + perceptual, while the nominal group continued with individual retrieval. The results indicate that the combination of differing encoding levels (semantic + perceptual) not only eliminates collaborative inhibition and reduces erroneous retrieval during collaborative retrieval but also enhances individual memory performance post-collaboration. This improvement reflects two complementary mechanisms: differentiated encoding levels reduce strategy interference, while cross-cueing facilitates reciprocal cueing between deep and shallow encoders, enabling them to leverage each other's retrieval strengths and optimise collaborative performance.

ABSTRACT Recovered memories (RM) of trauma remain a contentious issue in psychological research and clinical practice, with ongoing debates about their prevalence and validity. This systematic review synthesizes empirical evidence from 42 studies published post-2000, following the “Memory Wars”, to examine the prevalence of RM and associated contextual factors across diverse populations. Prevalence rates vary significantly: 1–3% in legally documented childhood sexual abuse (CSA) cases, 22–39% in self-reported CSA survivor samples, 6–19% in therapy attendees, and 3–13% in general population samples. Variability is driven by differences in operational definitions (e.g., total amnesia vs. partial forgetting), sample types, and recovery contexts (e.g., therapy-induced vs. spontaneous triggers). Therapist reports indicate 27–78% have encountered clients with RM, with caseload proportions ranging from 0.56% to 20%, influenced by theoretical orientation and training. Purposive studies reveal no unique cognitive mechanisms for RM, with experiences often reflecting conscious suppression, meta-awareness failures, or environmental cueing rather than special dissociative processes. These findings support a reconstructive memory framework, emphasizing cognitive, motivational, and environmental factors. The review highlights the need for standardized definitions, cross-cultural research, and enhanced therapist training to address risks of suggestive practices and develop evidence-based guidelines for supporting clients reporting RM in the absence of concerns regarding suggestion.

ABSTRACT In today’s digital world, people are documenting their lives more extensively than ever before. To investigate how this pervasive (digital) documentation shapes the way individuals reconstruct and recall personally relevant events, we conducted a preregistered experimental think-aloud study in which participants (N = 40; German sample) were asked to remember their birthdays from 2019 and 2024 in as much detail as possible. Participants completed the study in their usual home environments and were allowed to consult any external resources that they wanted to consult. The results demonstrate that participants almost exclusively used digital external resources. Moreover, participants relied more heavily on external resources when recalling the more distant birthday. Importantly, the use of external resources was an overall adaptive strategy, insofar as it helped participants gain new insights that went beyond what they could recall from internal memory alone. This provides further evidence that integrating information stored in one’s mind and information stored in the environment is a potentially beneficial and symbiotic process.

ABSTRACT Researchers have recently demonstrated that people tend to experience spontaneous mental simulations of what might happen next – i.e., the approximal future – and that such simulations are especially likely to focus on possible negative outcomes in relation to sources of perceived threat in the surrounding environment. The purpose of the two studies (N = 318) reported in this manuscript was to better characterise the generalizability of simulations of the approximal future across the lifespan. Participants were asked to report memories of approximal simulations of the future and to indicate whether the events they reported were triggered by any relevant past experiences. Across both studies, we found consistent evidence that people, irrespective of age, remember simulations of the approximal future that are disproportionately characterised by negative as opposed to positive valence, and that these memories tend to be remembered as being triggered by some relevant personal, vicarious, or media event. These findings suggest that mental simulation and memory work flexibility to support threat detection.

ABSTRACT To examine contrasting predictions between fuzzy trace theory (FTT) and activation monitoring theory (AMT), the current study examined the proportion of DRM false memories produced by children vs adults. In contrast to previous studies, backward associative strength (BAS) was well controlled, and the method ensured that subjects’ attention was focused on lexical/semantic information. Specifically, DRM lists for children were constructed from child norms, and DRM lists for adults were based on adult norms. In addition, to ensure that attention was focused on lexical/semantic information, lists were read aloud to the subjects, and responses were made verbally. Children produced more false memories than adults, supporting AMT. Response modality was varied in a second Experiment. Children recalled more items when responding orally than when writing responses. Adults showed no effect of response modality. These results indicate that when BAS is controlled, and both children’s and adults’ attention is focused on semantic information, false memory occurs more frequently in children than adults. We propose that this pattern is indicative of a less developed attentional system in children, is consistent with activation monitoring theory, and suggests important boundary conditions for the occurrence of developmental reversals.

ABSTRACT This study examines the kinematic characteristics of mouse movements as a means to assess the truthfulness of reported autobiographical memories. Ninety participants answered double-choice questions about an autobiographical event using a computer mouse. To induce cognitive load in deceptive responses, complex questions were introduced. Participants were divided into three groups: truthful responders (n = 30), those instructed to fabricate an entirely fictional holiday (n = 30), and those asked to falsify specific details of a real holiday (n = 30). Temporal and spatial features of mouse trajectories were recorded and analysed. Findings indicate that deceptive responses were associated with slower and more erratic mouse movements compared to truthful ones. Furthermore, machine learning models classified deceptive versus truthful responses with an average accuracy of 75% (for liars reporting completely faked holidays) and 80% (for liars providing true holidays with false details). Notably, participants who fabricated an entire event exhibited different movement patterns than those who altered specific details, suggesting that fabricating an entirely false memory may be cognitively less demanding than modifying real details. These findings provide novel insights into cognitive processes underlying deception and highlight the potential of kinematic analysis in lie detection.

ABSTRACT Research indicates that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms relate to reckless and self-destructive behaviours (RSDBs). This study examined if positive autobiographical memory (AM) characteristics moderated the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and RSDB engagement among student military veterans. In a sample of 100 trauma-exposed student veterans (M age = 38.93; 94.6% male), regression analyses revealed that greater PTSD severity was associated with higher engagement in RSDBs (p’s < .01), while more accessibility to, greater vividness of, and closer time perspective of positive AMs was associated with less engagement in RSDBs. Moderation analyses revealed that the positive association between PTSD severity and RSDB engagement was stronger at (1) lower (b = 0.21, p < .001) than at higher (b = 0.09, p < .001) levels of positive AM accessibility, and (2) lower (b = 0.21, p < .001) than at higher (b = 0.10, p < .001) levels of positive AM sensory details. Other examined positive AM characteristics – emotional intensity, vividness, and distancing – did not moderate the relationship. Thus, being able to easily remember positive AMs with more sensory details may help attenuate the link between PTSD symptoms and risky behaviours, suggesting that positive memory-based interventions could be helpful. This study was exploratory, and we used a robust yet lenient correction for multiple comparisons, which indicates the need for replication in future research.

ABSTRACT Unfamiliar face recognition is a critical ability that can have significant implications, such as in legal or security contexts. Despite this, little is known about the cognitive skills that support children’s ability to accurately recognise and report unfamiliar faces and how these change with age. This research examined whether executive functioning (EF), including working memory, cognitive flexibility, response inhibition, and updating, predicts school-aged children’s performance on two face recognition tasks: an old/new recognition task (Experiment 1; N = 113) and a lineup identification task (Experiment 2; N = 121). While EF was not strongly related to recognition accuracy in either task, it was associated with children’s response bias, indicating that EF supports regulation of decision thresholds rather than memory strength. Age predicted modest improvements in discriminability, but these effects were not explained by EF, indicating that other developmental factors, such as metacognition or social understanding, may also play a role. Together, these findings suggest that EF contributes more to how children regulate and apply memory decisions than to how accurately they encode or retrieve unfamiliar faces.