Individual differences in susceptibility to memory illusions

Abstract

Forty‐two individuals studied sixteen word lists, each of which converged on a common list associate that was not studied. Ten measures of individual differences in cognition and personality were also administered. The tendency to intrude words in recall and to falsely recognize distractor words in a recognition memory test were significantly correlated with reports of dissociative experiences and vivid mental imagery. It is argued that the memory errors, as well as the reports of dissociative experiences, reflect difficulties in source monitoring, in particular, in the discrimination of events that originate externally from those that originate internally. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The reliability of the DRM paradigm as a measure of individual differences in false memories

“…If so, how stable is that tendency? The first question has begun to be answered with research showing that some groups of people-such as the elderly, people with Alzheimer's dementia, and those who report more dissociative experiences-are more susceptible to the false memories produced in the DRM paradigm (e.g., Balota et al, 1999;Clancy, Schacter, McNally, & Pitman, 2000;Kensinger & Schacter, 1999;Norman & Schacter, 1997;Winograd, Peluso, & Glover, 1998). The second question, however, has yet to be answered.…”

“…As has been suggested by prior research on individual differences (e.g., Balota et al, 1999;Clancy et al, 2000;Kensinger & Schacter, 1999;Norman & Schacter, 1997;Winograd et al, 1998), a reliable global tendency for false memories was evident in significant cross-list correlations between the two testing sessions: Those participants who made more FAs during the first session were more likely to make FAs during the second session, even when the items were different. In addition, calculations of interitem reliability within a session showed that those participants who made more FAs for one list were more likely to make FAs for other lists in that session.…”

Upper and lower visual field differences in perceptual asymmetries

“…They also found that individuals who reported bumping their right side showed a significant leftward bias on line bisection (i.e., bisect to the left of centre), illustrating a potential relationship between lateralized bumping and another measure of perceptual asymmetry. However, as self-report measures are susceptible to false memory (Hyman & Loftus, 1998;Winograd, Peluso, & Glover, 1998) they may not reflect real-world behaviour, making an objective behavioural measure desirable. Nicholls and colleagues (2007) further investigated lateralized bumping by constructing an adjustable doorway for participants to walk through.…”

False memory susceptibility in coma survivors with and without a near-death experience

“…Several studies have shown a positive correlation between the DRM illusion and the scores on the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; e.g. Hyman & Billings, 1999;Winograd, Peluso, & Glover, 1998), suggesting that a tendency towards dissociative experiences is associated with increased rates of false recall. not only replicated this association between the DES and the DRM illusion, but also found (through the use of a modified DRM procedure; that this relationship was mediated by the (source) monitoring component.…”