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Memory distortions: When suggestions cannot be easily ignored
Author(s) -
Cabalo Donna Gift,
Ianì Francesco,
Bilge A. Reyyan,
Mazzoni Giuliana
Publication year - 2019
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.3597
Subject(s) - session (web analytics) , psychology , debriefing , task (project management) , false memory , deception , cognitive psychology , social psychology , recall , computer science , management , world wide web , economics
Summary In the present study, the persistence of personal false memories (FMs) after social feedback that denies their truth was assessed. Participants imitated actions performed by the experimenter ( Session 1 ) and watched a doctored video with performed and critical “fake” actions ( Session 2 ), followed by a memory rating and a recognition task. A few days later ( Session 3 ), participants were clearly told that some memories were false and received daily reminders of the correct list of objects/actions before testing their memory again in Session 4 . Results of both memory ratings and recognition indicated effective FM implantation. Interestingly, response times for correct rejections were longer for fake than true objects, suggesting participants struggled to ignore false suggestions. Crucial for our aim, Session 4 showed that FM persisted also after the debriefing and repeated presentations of correct list of objects/actions, suggesting that FMs for actions are rather difficult to discard.