Related Experiment Videos
Interviewing witnesses: forced confabulation and confirmatory feedback increase false memories
M S Zaragoza1, K E Payment, J K Ackil
1Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA. mzaragoz@kent.edu
Psychological Science
|January 5, 2002
Summary
Confirmatory feedback during interviews can lead adults to develop false memories for events they knowingly confabulated. This feedback also boosts confidence and reporting of these fabricated memories.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Memory is reconstructive and susceptible to distortion.
- Social factors can influence memory accuracy and confidence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of confirmatory feedback on the development of false memories.
- To examine how social-motivational factors influence confabulation and subsequent memory.
Main Methods:
- Adult participants viewed a videotaped event.
- Interviews involved forced confabulation with selective confirmatory or neutral feedback.
- Memory, confidence, and reporting were assessed over time.
Main Results:
- Participants developed false memories for confabulated events.
- Confirmatory feedback significantly increased false memory, confidence, and later reporting.
- Neutral feedback had a lesser impact on false memory development.
Conclusions:
- Social-motivational factors, particularly confirmatory feedback, play a crucial role in false memory formation.
- Suggests that social interactions can powerfully shape an individual's memory of past events.
- Highlights the malleability of memory and the influence of external validation.