Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 25, 2026

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
Published on: May 3, 2016
The case against a criterion-shift account of false memory
1Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0109, USA. jwixted@ucsd.edu
Abstract:
M. B. Miller and G. L. Wolford (1999) argued that the high false-alarm rate associated with critical lures in the Roediger-McDermott (H. L. Roediger & K. B. McDermott, 1995) paradigm results from a criterion shift and therefore does not reflect false memory. This conclusion, which is based on new data reported by Miller and Wolford, overlooks the fact that Roediger and McDermott's false-memory account is as compatible with the new findings as the criterion-shift account is. Furthermore, a consideration of prior work concerned with investigating the conditions under which participants are and are not inclined to adjust the decision criterion suggests that the criterion-shift account of false memory is unlikely to be correct.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Hindsight Biases
Flashbulb Memory
Traumatic Memory
Eyewitness Memory
One such error is memory distortion, which occurs because human memory does not function like a...
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...
Dissociative Amnesia

