We conducted two experiments to investigate if college students would create false memories of childhood experiences in response to misleading information and repeated interviews. In both experiments we contacted parents to obtain information about events that happened to the students during childhood. In a series of interviews we asked the students to recall the parentreported events and one experimenter-created false event. In the second experiment we varied the age at which we claimed the false event occurred. In both experiments we found that some individuals created false memories in these circumstances and in the second experiment we found no effect of age of attempted incorporation. In the second experiment we also found that those who discussed related background knowledge during the early interviews were more likely to create a false recall. Generalizations to therapy contexts are discussed.Can adults create false memories of childhood experiences in response to misleading information and the demands of an interview? Psychologists who work with people recovering from childhood abuse and trauma have contended that most memories recovered during therapy are accurate (Bass and Davis, 1988;Fredrickson, 1992;Olio, 1994). Memory psychologists, in contrast, have expressed concern that many recovered memories may be false memories (Kihlstrom, 1993;Lindsay and Read, 1994;Loftus, 1993). Thus investigation of factors that contribute to our understanding of the recovery of childhood memories is important. If adults can create false childhood memories, then therapists will need to exercise caution in their interviews with clients, and the courts may need to view memories recovered through therapy as having been contaminated by potentially biasing influences. Research on false memories may also provide information concerning the processes involved in memory creation-whether memory creation involves integration, source confusion, or some combination of both.The focus on memories of childhood experiences is an old concern in the psychoanalytic tradition (Erdelyi, 1990;Freud, 1957Freud, ,1974. Freud viewed childhood memories as an important source of information about an individual and he emphasized the interpretation of childhood memories. Freud was also interested in childhood, or Correspondence concerning this article should be directed to

We investigated the effects of divided attention during walking. Individuals were classified based on whether they were walking while talking on a cell phone, listening to an MP3 player, walking without any electronics or walking in a pair. In the first study, we found that cell phone users walked more slowly, changed directions more frequently, and were less likely to acknowledge other people than individuals in the other conditions. In the second study, we found that cell phone users were less likely to notice an unusual activity along their walking route (a unicycling clown). Cell phone usage may cause inattentional blindness even during a simple activity that should require few cognitive resources.

Summary: Having a song stuck in your head is a commonly experienced intrusive thought. We explored the intrusive song phenomenon through a survey, an experimental diary study, and three laboratory experiments. Contrary to the belief that only obnoxious songs get stuck, we found that songs people know and like frequently became intrusive. We also found that intrusive songs followed environmental cues. In addition, if a song continued to play in someone's head immediately after listening to it, the song was likely to return as an intrusive song within the next 24 hours. Similar to mind wandering, the return of intrusive songs depended on cognitive resources: people reported that intrusive songs returned during low cognitive load activities, and we found that overloading the cognitive systems with challenging activities increased intrusive song frequency. Throughout our studies, we easily created and manipulated intrusive song experiences. Songs provide a valuable method to investigate intrusive thoughts.

(2016) A mega-analysis of memory reports from eight peer-reviewed false memory implantation studies. Memory, 25 (2). pp. 146-163. Permanent WRAP URL:http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/83729 Copyright and reuse:The Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP) makes this work by researchers of the University of Warwick available open access under the following conditions. Copyright © and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in WRAP has been checked for eligibility before being made available.Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP URL' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. In Press, Memory, November 9, 2016. This is not the official copy of record; the final published version may differ slightly.Author note: Please direct correspondence to A. Scoboria, Department of Psychology, 401 Sunset, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, N9B 3P4, scoboria@uwindsor.ca; K. Wade, Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, University Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom, K.A.Wade@warwick.ac.uk; S. Lindsay, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria BC, Canada,V8W 2Y2, slindsay@uvic.ca. This research was supported by a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to the first author (RGPIN/327570−2012). The authors thank the many research assistants who contributed to this research. RUNNING HEAD: Mega-analysis of False Memory Reports… 2 AbstractUnderstanding that suggestive practices can promote false beliefs and false memories for childhood events is important in many settings (e.g., psychotherapeutic, medical, legal). The generalizability of findings from memory implantation studies has been questioned due to variability in estimates across studies. Such variability is partly due to false memories having been operationalized differently across studies and to differences in memory induction techniques. We explored ways of defining false memory based on memory science and developed a reliable coding system that we applied to reports from eight published implantation studies (N=423). Independent raters coded transcripts using seven criteria: accepting the suggestion, elaboration beyond the suggestion, imagery, coherence, emotion, memory statements, and not rejecting the suggestion. Using this scheme, 30.4% of cases were classified as false memories and another 23% wer...

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In the present study, we examined the similarities and differences between memory ratings for traumatic, negative, and positive life experiences. A sample of 113 female undergraduates completed a packet of questionnaires that included memory rating scales for all three types of experiences and measures of psychological functioning. Analyses revealed that traumatic experiences and negative experiences were less well-recalled than positive experiences with regard to some sensory information and some aspects of the narrative structure of the event. In addition, there were no differences between some memory ratings for different types of life events. Additionally, no clear relationships emerged between memory ratings and measures of psychological functioning. Findings tend to support theoretical perspectives that emphasize more limited memory for traumatic experiences relative to memory for other experiences.

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