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Realistic stimuli can reduce the number of falsely recalled items
Laurie S. Hunter, Alaina Manley, Casey Papa, Ashley Currin, Lynn Ray, Megan MacLane, Samantha Scalsky
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Methodology
This study investigated the effect of a critical lure on
memory in a nonverbal context. The most realistic
stimuli, photographs, result in the least amount of false
memories, underlining the implications for the
ecological validity of memory assessment.
Importance of the Research and
Research Question
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Using word lists, one
can create false recall
of a related, yet not
presented, word
DRM paradigm
demonstrates memory
can be altered.
Lists were adapted from
Roediger and McDermott
(1995). Only three lists were
used: bread, chair, and foot.
Number of Falsely Recalled Items varies according to
List Type and Presentation Format
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Pictorial images of False Memory Item
The DRM written word lists
were presented individually
in a Power Point presentation.
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The drawings display
consisted of 3 sets of
individual schematic pictures
of the 12 list items.
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Drawing
The photographs display
consisted of 3 sets of
individual photographic
pictures of the 12 list items
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Bread
106 participants (86 women, 20 men), aged from 18 to 51, M = 20.11, SD = 3.61
Leading
to False
memories
Freshman
African
American
Natural/Behavioral
Science
Sophomore
Asian/Pacific
Islander
Social Sciences
Caucasian
Arts & Humanities
Latino
MAT
Native
American
Undecided
Senior
Graduate/MAT
Realistic Stimuli Lead to a Reduction in Number of
Falsely Recalled Items
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Research
Question
For items related to bread, words lead to significantly more false memories, than drawings and photographs.
For items related to chair, only photographs yield significantly less false memories than words.
Contrastingly, for items related to foot, drawings lead to significantly more false memories than words or
photographs.
• Differences in false memories were similar for two of the three lists (bread and chair).
• Only the foot list suggested more false memories with drawings.
• Perhaps, information related to body parts elicits emotion or self comparison rather than truly evaluating false
memories.
Next steps
• Future research will continue to address the issue of realism as a factor in reducing false memories, with
emphasis on ecologically valid stimuli as a mirror of real world interaction.
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• Three dimensional objects
• Actual interaction with objects
• Presentation of a scene depicting interaction with all related list items
• Future research will also address the role of emotional reaction to stimuli.
• Comparisons among various body parts exploring emotion as a mediator
• Monitor facial expressions of reactions to stimuli
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Do more realistic,
ecologically valid
stimuli reduce
number of falsely
recalled items?
Overall, consistent with previous research, our findings indicate false memories are more likely
to occur using verbal stimuli rather than non-verbal stimuli. When given words the less realistic
scenario requires more thought and connectivity, perhaps leading to deeper processing and false
connections among items.
The picture changes, however, when you consider list type.
• We can relate the realistic information to everyday interactions.
• More realistic stimuli may foster connections among experiences leading to more accurate memory.
• Daily experiences more likely involve seeing images rather than seeing words.
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What remains
unclear is whether
deeper processing
is affected by
verbal versus nonverbal stimuli or
degree of realism.
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• Realistic scenarios elicit the least amount of false memories.
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Research-created
pictorial images of
the words
eliminates deeper
processing, thus
leading to fewer
falsely recalled
items (Hunter et
al., 2004)
Discussion
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Perhaps selfcreation of a
mental image leads
to deeper
processing, thus
increasing chances
of falsely recalling
information
Foot
Interaction effect: F (4, 206) = 11.492, p < 0.05, The bread and chair lists yielded less false
memories using photographic stimuli and the most false memories with words. The foot list also
yielded less false memories using photographic stimuli, but the most false memories with drawings.
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Findings
• The non-context display produced significantly less false memories than the remaining
three conditions, but the stimuli were not realistic as they were schematic drawings.
Chair
Major
Ethnicity
Junior
• Hunter, Crowder, Leach and Norris (2004) created a set of schematic stimuli designed to
represent three DRM word lists (bread, foot, chair) to compare number of falsely recalled
items under four different conditions, spoken word list, written word list, context display
(all items pictured together) and non-context display (items presented individually).
Words
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The recognition display
consisted of six items
presented originally, one false
memory item, and five items
not originally present.
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Photographs
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Participants
The creation of a
mental image of the
related word may be a
useful strategy to
facilitate memory recall
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Conclusion
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Drawings
Photographs
Words
Main effect: F (2, 103) = 18.620, p < 0.05, Pairwise comparisons indicated number
of falsely recalled items significantly differed among all three presentation formats:
lowest for photographs (M = 0.162, SE = 0.053), then drawings (M = 0.454, SE =
0.052), and highest for words (M = 0.610, SE = 0.053).
More realistic information leads to less false memories. This
research has implications for eyewitness accounts, investigations,
and judicial processes.