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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory
Published on: January 31, 2017
Underestimation of prior remembering and susceptibility to false memories: two sides of the same coin?
Linsey Raymaekers1, Maarten J V Peters, Tom Smeets
1Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. linsey.raymaekers@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Abstract:
In two studies, we explored whether susceptibility to false memories and the underestimation of prior memories (i.e., forgot-it-all-along effect) tap overlapping memory phenomena. Study 1 investigated this issue by administering the Deese/Roediger-McDermott task (DRM) and the forgot-it-all-along (FIA) task to an undergraduate sample (N=110). It was furthermore explored how performances on these tasks correlate with clinically relevant traits such as fantasy proneness, dissociative experiences, and cognitive efficiency. Results show that FIA and DRM performances are relatively independent from each other, suggesting that these measures empirically apparently refer to separate dimensions. However, they do not seem to define different profiles in terms of dissociation, fantasy proneness, and cognitive efficiency. Study 2 replicated the finding of relative independence between false memory propensity (as measured with the DRM task) and the underestimation of prior memories (as measured with an autobiographical memory dating task) in people with a history of childhood sexual abuse (N=35).
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