Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 19, 2026

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories
Published on: November 14, 2018
Illusory inferences: a novel class of erroneous deductions
1Department of Psychology, Princeton University, NJ 08544-1010, USA. phil@clarity.princeton.edu
Abstract:
The mental model theory postulates that reasoners build models of the situations described in premises, and that these models normally make explicit only what is true. The theory has an unexpected consequence: it predicts the occurrence of inferences that are compelling but invalid. They should arise from reasoners failing to take into account what is false. Three experiments corroborated the systematic occurrence of these illusory inferences, and eliminated a number of alternative explanations for them. Their results illuminate the controversy among various current theories of reasoning.
Related Concept Videos
Cause and Effect
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...
Inductive Reasoning
Hindsight Biases
Deductive Reasoning
Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory

