Interactions between spontaneous instantiations to the basic level and post-event suggestions

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Memory Research
• Human Memory

Background:

• Post-event suggestions are known to distort memory recall.
• Spontaneous memory processes, like instantiation, involve creating intermediate-level details from abstract information.
• The interaction between suggestion and spontaneous memory instantiation requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how post-event suggestions interact with spontaneous memory instantiation.
• To investigate the effect of congruent suggestions on memory recall.
• To understand the role of basic-level instantiation in suggestibility.

Main Methods:

• Participants read a narrative with superordinate-level items (e.g., FRUIT).
• Participants were exposed to basic-level suggestions (e.g., APPLE) that may coincide with spontaneous instantiations.
• Memory recall was assessed, including remember/know judgments, after immediate or delayed exposure to suggestions.

Main Results:

• Spontaneous instantiation tendency increased over time, especially when suggestions aligned with potential instantiations.
• Exposure to congruent suggestions, whether immediate or delayed, reduced correct recall of original items.
• Suggestibility effects were particularly strong and phenomenologically compelling in remember/know judgments.

Conclusions:

• Post-event suggestion effects can be explained by constructive memory processes.
• The alignment between suggestions and spontaneous instantiation influences memory distortion.
• Understanding instantiation is key to understanding suggestibility.