Studies have demonstrated that false memories can be implanted using narratives and photographs as suggestive media. We examined whether the influence of photos on false memory formation is influenced by the specificity of the photograph relative to the event being suggested. Participants completed a memory implantation procedure, in which a false event (hot air balloon ride) was suggested using a narrative alone or a narrative accompanied by a photograph of the participant and a parent as a child. The photograph was labeled as either having been taken during the event (event-specific photo), or as having been taken during the period that the event occurred (lifetime-period photo). False memory formation was highest when the suggestion was accompanied by the lifetime-period photo. Ratings of the strength of recollection were highest for the lifetime-period photo and lowest for the event-specific photo. The specificity of photographs used when suggesting false events moderates false memory formation.

Preceding research has documented that the remembered events that become nonbelieved memories (NBMs) are frequently, but not exclusively, dated in early to midchildhood. We extend discussion of this apparent anti-reminiscence bump, which indicates that childhood memory may be a period of vulnerability such that, when vivid childhood memories are brought into question later in life, reduction of belief in the occurrence of such memories is more likely to result. We reexamined the dating of NBMs in a combined sample of five studies (N ϭ 929) and explored the dating of NBMs in relation to phenomenological characteristics associated with remembering, reasons for choosing to reduce belief in memories, and subtypes of NBMs. The distribution of age at the event in the memory was consistent with prior studies, within and across the samples: memories that became NBMs were most likely to be dated in early to middle childhood. Participants' age at the time of the event and age at development of the NBM correlated weakly with a number of memory characteristics and reasons for altering belief in memories. The "classic" NBM subtype, characterized by large differences between recollection and belief in occurrence, was dated earlier than the other subtypes. Implications of childhood as a period of vulnerability for uncertainty and revision of belief in the occurrence of memories and some potential clinical implications of our findings are discussed.