Cross‐Cultural Differences in Categorical Memory Errors

Cultural differences occur in the use of categories to aid accurate recall of information. This study investigated whether culture also contributed to false (erroneous) memories, and extended cross‐cultural memory research to T urkish culture, which is shaped by E astern and W estern influences. A mericans and T urks viewed word pairs, half of which were categorically related and half unrelated. Participants then attempted to recall the second word from the pair in response to the first word cue. Responses were coded as correct, as blanks, or as different types of errors. A mericans committed more categorical errors than did T urks, and T urks mistakenly recalled more non‐categorically related list words than did A mericans. These results support the idea that A mericans use categories either to organize information in memory or to support retrieval strategies to a greater extent than T urks and suggest that culture shapes not only accurate recall but also erroneous distortions of memory.