Can false memories prime problem solutions?

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Abstract Previous research has suggested that false memories can prime performance on related implicit and explicit memory tasks. The present research examined whether false memories can also be used to prime higher order cognitive processes, namely, insight-based problem solving. Participants were asked to solve a number of compound remote associate task (CRAT) problems, half of which had been primed by the presentation of Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists whose critical lure was also the solution to the problem. The results showed that when the critical lure (a) was falsely recalled, CRAT problems were solved more often and significantly faster than problems that were not primed by a DRM list and (b) was not falsely recalled, CRAT problem solution rates and times were no different than when there was no DRM priming. A second experiment demonstrated that these outcomes were not a simple artifact of the inclusion of a recall test prior to the problem-solving task. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to the previous literature on priming and the adaptive function of false memories. Permanent repository link

Priming children’s and adults’ analogical problem solutions with true and false memories

“…Extending these findings, Howe, Garner, Dewhurst, and Ball (2010a) demonstrated that false memories also prime solutions to more complex tasks, namely, insight-based problem-solving tasks. Using the compound remote associate task (CRAT) initially developed by Mednick (1962), participants were required to generate a single word that linked three presented words (e.g., board/mail/magic where the linking solution word is black).…”

“…Thus, it is clear that the impact of false memory priming on problem solving tasks is not just restricted to children's and adults' CRAT problems (Howe et al, 2010a(Howe et al, , 2011, but also extends to more complex reasoning tasks such as verbal analogical reasoning. That is, the current contribution is also important because false memory priming of CRAT solutions might be seen as simply representing the priming of distant word associations in a network of such associations.…”

“…Using the compound remote associate task (CRAT) initially developed by Mednick (1962), participants were required to generate a single word that linked three presented words (e.g., board/mail/magic where the linking solution word is black). Howe et al (2010a) demonstrated that adult participants solved more CRATs more quickly when primed with a false memory than when no prime was presented. This finding has been replicated and extended to include priming in children (Howe, Garner, Charlesworth & Knott, 2011).…”

“…If both CRAT problems and false memories utilize the same spreading activation mechanism, it seems as if CRAT problems provide an ideal platform from which to demonstrate priming effects with false memories (Howe et al, 2010a). However, despite these novel findings, one could argue that the priming of CRAT problems within this paradigm is not necessarily the priming of complex problem solving per se, but rather, simply the priming of more distant word associations.…”

“…Like the generation of spontaneous false memories in the DRM paradigm, solving CRAT problems is believed to involve a process of spreading activation, a link shared with the associative-activation account of false memories (Howe, Wimmer, Gagnon, & Plumpton, 2009;Howe et al, 2010aHowe et al, , 2011. If both CRAT problems and false memories utilize the same spreading activation mechanism, it seems as if CRAT problems provide an ideal platform from which to demonstrate priming effects with false memories (Howe et al, 2010a).…”