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The Potential for False Memories is Bigger than What Brewin and Andrews Suggest
Author(s) -
Otgaar Henry,
Merckelbach Harald,
Jelicic Marko,
Smeets Tom
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3262
Subject(s) - false memory , misinformation , psychology , cognitive psychology , contrast (vision) , autobiographical memory , developmental psychology , recall , artificial intelligence , computer science , computer security
Summary Brewin and Andrews (2016) reviewed the literature on false memory propensity for childhood events. In this commentary, we critically evaluate their basic claim that proneness to false memories of childhood experiences is more limited than has been articulated in the literature. We show that Brewin and Andrews were selective in their inclusion of false memory studies, thereby ignoring relevant research related to autobiographical false memories. Equally important, and in contrast to what Brewin and Andrews claim, we show that implanted false memories elicited by misinformation are characterized by high confidence. © 2016 The Authors Applied Cognitive Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.