Imagery and memory illusions

Abstract

This article provides a summary of current knowledge about memory illusions. The memory illusions described here focus on the recall of imagined events that have never actually occurred. The purpose is to review theoretical ideas and empirical evidence about the reality-monitoring processes involved in memory illusions. Reality monitoring means deciding whether the memory has been perceptually derived or been self-generated (thought or imagined). A few key findings from the literature have been reported in this paper and these focus on internal source-monitoring judgments which distinguish perceptual events from imagined events. Finally, the experimental paradigms used to shed light on processes occurring in the failure of reality monitoring in healthy subjects may be extended to an examination of the causes and the prevention of hallucinations in patients.For several years, hallucinations and memory illusions have been a particularly active field of research in cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and psychopathology.Hallucinations are highly symptomatic of a wide variety of disorders and especially of schizophrenia. The majority of researchers have suggested that hallucinations are caused by a confusion between an internal source (what is imagined or thought) and an external source (what is perceived ;Bentall 1990;Frith 1992;Hoffman 1986). Hallucinations result from a diminished capacity to distinguish between real and imaginary events. Schizophrenia is characterized by the presence of verbal hallucinations which are generally described as a kind of imagery which the sufferer from schizophrenia considers as real. The hallucinations of certain schizophrenic patients can be interpreted as a dysfunction of reality Phenom Cogn Sci (2010) 9:253-262

Effects of visual imagery on false memories in DRM and misinformation paradigms

“…Therefore, we have to be cautious concerning the hypothesis that imaging encoding would be a good candidate for reducing every sort of false memories of events. Indeed, at the opposite, numerous studies using imaging instruction in false events induction have revealed the negative role of visual images on source recognition with an imagination inflation effect or false autobiographical memories (Goff & Roediger, 1998;Mazzoni & Memon, 2003; for a review, see Robin, 2010).…”

Item-specific and relational processing both improve recall accuracy in the DRM paradigm

“…Successful methods include repeated study presentations (Benjamin, 2001; McDermott, 1996), instructional warnings presented before study and/or test (Gallo, Roediger, & McDermott, 2001; McCabe & Smith, 2002; Neuschatz, Payne, Lampinen, & Toglia, 2001), and requiring source monitoring of the origins of one’s memories at test (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993; Multhaup & Conner, 2002; although see Hicks & Marsh, 2001, for exception). Manipulations that induce distinctive encoding of the list items have also been successful at reducing the illusion, including picture presentations (Israel & Schacter, 1997), unique fonts (Arndt & Reder, 2003), mental imagery (Bodner, Huff, Lamontagne, & Azad, 2017; Foley, Wozniak, & Gillum, 2006; Gunter, Bodner, & Azad, 2007; Oliver, Bays, & Zabrucky, 2016; Robin, 2010), pleasantness ratings (Gunter et al, 2007; Huff & Bodner, 2013), and anagram generation (Bodner et al, 2017; Gunter et al, 2007; Huff & Bodner, 2013; McCabe & Smith, 2006). Some of these distinctive manipulations, such as generation, can induce a mirror effect (Glanzer & Adams, 1990)—an increase in correct memory coupled with a decrease in false memory—relative to a read-only control task.…”

Effects of Image and Verbal Generation on False Memory

“…For over 30 years, the issue of false memories has been the source of a growing number of studies in psychology (for a review, see Brainerd & Reyna, 2005; Gallo, 2006; 2010; Lyle & Johnson, 2007). The influence of mental images on memory illusions has been widely examined in line with the theory of source monitoring (Durso & Johnson, 1980; Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993; Johnson & Raye, 1981; Lyle & Johnson, 2006; for a review, see Robin, 2010). Source monitoring is defined as the ability to identify the origin (source) of the information recovered in the memory (Johnson, 1997).…”