Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories
Published on: November 14, 2018
Imaging the reconstruction of true and false memories using sensory reactivation and the misinformation paradigms
Craig E L Stark1, Yoko Okado, Elizabeth F Loftus
1Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California 92629, USA. cestark@uci.edu
Abstract:
Many current theories of false memories propose that, when we retrieve a memory, we are not reactivating a veridical, fixed representation of a past event, but are rather reactivating incomplete fragments that may be accurate or distorted and may have arisen from other events. By presenting the two phases of the misinformation paradigm in different modalities, we could observe sensory reactivation of the auditory and visual cortex during the retrieval phase. Overall, true and false memories showed similar brain activation, but could be distinguished by this reactivation. This was true only in the early regions of the sensory cortex.
Related Concept Videos
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...
Eyewitness Memory
One such error is memory distortion, which occurs because human memory does not function like a...
Repressed Memory
Implicit Memories
One key aspect of implicit...
Brain Imaging
These technologies include computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scans), positron-emission tomography (PET scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).
Chunking and Rehearsal in Sensory Memory

