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False memories represent a cognitive distortion in which individuals recall events that did not happen, or remember them in an altered form. This phenomenon highlights the brain's constructive nature in processing and recalling memories, emphasizing that memory is not a perfect representation of past events but rather a dynamic reconstruction influenced by various factors.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory

Published on: January 31, 2017

False memories and confabulation.

M K Johnson¹, C L Raye

¹Department of Psychology, Green Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1010, USA.

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

|January 14, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Understanding memory distortions is key to accurate recall. Research shows brain damage and external factors can impair source monitoring, leading to false memories, necessitating caution in memory-related professions.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychology

Background:

Memory distortions, ranging from minor errors to significant confabulations, arise from issues in source monitoring processes.
True and false memories are underpinned by the brain's ability to distinguish memory origins.

Purpose of the Study:

To review theoretical frameworks and empirical data on source monitoring in memory formation.
To explore the neural mechanisms associated with true and false memory evaluation.

Main Methods:

Review of neuropsychological studies on patients with brain lesions affecting memory.
Analysis of neuroimaging studies linking brain activity to memory processes.
Examination of factors influencing heuristic and systematic memory judgments.

Main Results:

Specific brain lesions (frontal and medial-temporal) can cause profound source confusions (confabulations).
The right prefrontal cortex (PFC) may handle heuristic memory judgments, while the left PFC (or both) handles systematic judgments.
Hypnosis, social demands, and motivation can disrupt these processes, potentially inducing false memories.

Conclusions:

Source monitoring deficits, linked to specific brain functions, underlie memory distortions.
Caution is advised for professions that elicit memories to prevent the creation of false memories.