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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
Psychological Review
|May 2, 2000
Summary
The Roediger-McDermott (RM) paradigm
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Memory Studies
Background:
- The Roediger-McDermott (RM) paradigm is frequently used to study false memories.
- A high false-alarm rate in the RM paradigm has been attributed to criterion shifts by Miller and Wolford (1999).
Discussion:
- This paper challenges the criterion-shift explanation for false alarms in the RM paradigm.
- It argues that the original false-memory account by Roediger and McDermott (1995) is equally compatible with new data.
- Prior research suggests criterion-shift explanations for false memory are unlikely.
Key Insights:
- The interpretation of false alarms in the RM paradigm remains contested.
- Evidence does not exclusively support a criterion-shift explanation over a genuine false memory account.
- The tendency for participants to adjust decision criteria is variable and context-dependent.
Outlook:
- Further research is needed to definitively distinguish between criterion shifts and true false memories in recognition tasks.
- Investigating the precise mechanisms underlying decision criterion adjustments in memory experiments is crucial.
- Re-evaluating existing data through the lens of both accounts may yield new insights into memory distortion.
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