Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories
Published on: November 14, 2018
Perceptual representations in false recognition and priming of pictures
Yana Weinstein1, David R Shanks
1Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, England. y.weinstein@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract:
Using a new procedure, we investigate whether imagination can induce false memory by creating a perceptual representation. Participants studied pictures and words with and without an imagery task and at test performed both a direct recognition test and an indirect perceptual identification test on pictorial stimuli. Corrected false recognition rates were 7% for pictures studied in word form (Experiment 1), 26% for pictures imagined once (Experiment 2), and 48% for pictures imagined multiple times (Experiment 3), although on the indirect test, no priming was found for these items. Furthermore, a perceptual/conceptual imagery manipulation did not affect the tendency to claim that imagined items had been studied as pictures (Experiment 4). These results suggest that the false memories reported on direct tests are not driven by perceptual representations.
Related Concept Videos
Graphical Representation of Inequalities
Perceptual Constancy
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information...
State Space Representation
Consider an RLC circuit, a...
Control Volume and System Representations
The control volume approach considers a stationary region in space through which fluid flows. This region is bounded by a control surface. For instance, in the case of water...
Vector Representation of Complex Numbers
Consider a function defined as the product of the complex factors in the numerator divided by the product of the complex factors in the...

