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Updated: Jul 13, 2026
07:26
The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory
Published on: January 31, 2017
Individual differences in working memory capacity affect false memories for missing aspects of events
Matthew P Gerrie1, Maryanne Garry
1Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Memory (Hove, England)
|July 7, 2007
Summary
Working memory capacity (WMC) helps people avoid false memories for crucial missing event details. However, WMC did not impact false memories for noncrucial information or subjective experiences of recognition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Memory Studies
- Neuroscience
Background:
- False memories can occur when individuals view events with missing information.
- Source-monitoring framework (SMF) explains false memories by difficulties in distinguishing memory sources.
- Individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) are linked to attentional control and source monitoring.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if higher working memory capacity (WMC) mitigates false memories for missing event details.
- To examine the role of WMC in the source-monitoring framework's explanation of false memories.
- To determine if WMC influences the recognition of crucial versus noncrucial missing information.
Main Methods:
- Participants viewed events with missing crucial and noncrucial details.
- Individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) were assessed.
- False recognition rates for missing crucial and noncrucial information were measured.
- Subjective experiences of true and false recognition were evaluated.
Main Results:
- Higher WMC significantly reduced false recognition of crucial missing information.
- WMC did not affect false recognition of noncrucial missing information.
- WMC had minimal impact on participants' subjective experience of memory accuracy.
Conclusions:
- Working memory capacity (WMC) plays a role in inhibiting false memories for critical event details.
- Findings support the source-monitoring framework's explanation of false memories.
- WMC's influence on memory accuracy is specific to the importance of the missing information.
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