Recollection rejection: false-memory editing in children and adults. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Mechanisms for editing false events out of memory reports have fundamental implications for theories of false memory and for best practice in applied domains in which false reports must be minimized (e.g., forensic psychological interviews, sworn testimony). A mechanism posited in fuzzy-trace theory, recollection rejection, is considered. A process analysis of false-memory editing is presented, which assumes that false-but-gist-consistent events (e.g., the word SOFA, when the word COUCH was experienced) sometimes cue the retrieval of verbatim traces of the corresponding true events (COUCH), generating mismatches that counteract the high familiarity of false-but-gist-consistent events. Empirical support comes from 2 qualitative phenomena: recollective suppression of semantic false memory and inverted-U relations between retrieval time and semantic false memory. Further support comes from 2 quantitative methodologies: conjoint recognition and receiver operating characteristics. The analysis also predicts a novel false-memory phenomenon (erroneous recollection rejection), in which true events are inappropriately edited out of memory reports.

publication date

  • October 1, 2003

Research

keywords

  • Mental Recall
  • Rejection, Psychology
  • Repression, Psychology

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0242594054

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1037/0033-295X.110.4.762

PubMed ID

  • 14599242

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 110

issue

  • 4