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Omitting details from post-event information: are true and false memory affected in the same way?
Janeen D Loehr1, Tammy A Marche
1University of Saskatchewan, Canada. jaanen.loehr@mcgill.ca
Memory (Hove, England)
|January 21, 2006
Summary
Omitting information after an event reduces memory for both presented and omitted details. This post-event omission significantly impacts memory accuracy, especially for false memories.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Memory Research
Background:
- Post-event information can alter memory recall and recognition.
- The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm is used to study false memory formation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of omitting information during a second presentation on memory for both presented and non-presented items.
- To determine if post-event omission impacts true and false memory recall and recognition.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the DRM paradigm with lists of semantic associates.
- Participants studied lists, with half receiving a second presentation omitting some associates.
- Memory for presented and non-presented critical words was assessed via recall and recognition tasks.
Main Results:
- Omission during the second presentation decreased recall and recognition of presented words.
- Recall of non-presented critical words was reduced by omission.
- False recognition of non-presented words was not significantly reduced by omission.
Conclusions:
- Post-event omission is detrimental to memory accuracy for both actual and false memories.
- False recognition appears particularly resistant to attenuation through information omission.
- Memory omission effects may be more significant than previously understood.
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