Identifying the origin of false memories: A comparison of DRM and categorised lists.

There is disagreement between memory researchers over whether false memories are caused at encoding or at retrieval. This disagreement is compounded by the fact that different studies have used different experimental procedures to elicit false memories. Two widely used procedures are DRM and category repetition. In the DRM procedure, participants study words that are associates of a nonpresented word (or "critical lure"). For example, "bed", "dream", "pillow", and "snore" are all associates of the critical lure "sleep". When asked to remember the words, participants frequently claim to remember hearing the critical lures. In category repetition, participants study words from semantic categories (eg animals or occupations). When asked to remember the words, participants often falsely remember nonpresented members of the target categories.It has been suggested that the DRM effect is caused by associations made at encoding, whereas the category repetition effect is caused by associations made at retrieval. However, previous research by the PI suggests that the encoding stage is critical in both procedures. The aim of the proposed research is to investigate the effects of experimental manipulations that influence either encoding or retrieval processes. The effects of these manipulations on DRM and category repetition will be compared