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Updated: Oct 9, 2026

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory
Published on: January 31, 2017
Memory discrimination for self-performed and imagined acts: bizarreness effects in false recognition
1University of Texas, Brownsville, Brownsville, USA. jworthen@selu.edu
Abstract:
Two experiments investigated the susceptibility of common and unusual action events to memory distortion under incidental learning and delayed testing conditions. Experiment 1 tested the influence of imaginal and enactment instructions at testing on memory discrimination for self-performed and imagined acts. The influence of hypnotic procedures at testing on memory discrimination for action events was tested in Experiment 2. The results of both experiments suggest that the likelihood of confusing details associated with separate, previously experienced unusual action events is greater than the likelihood of confusing details associated with separate, previously experienced common action events. Based on the results of both experiments, it is concluded that bizarreness has both memory-facilitating and memory-inhibiting qualities.
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