Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory
Published on: January 31, 2017
Introduction: in the aftermath of the so-called memory wars
1University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA. bbelli2@unl.edu
Abstract:
The term "memory wars" has been used by some to characterize the intense debate that emerged in the 1990s regarding the veracity of recovered memories of child sexual abuse. Both sides in this debate have been motivated by scientific and ethical concerns. Recent years have witnessed a burgeoning of relevant behavioral and neuroimaging evidence that when taken together, points the way toward reconciliation. All of the contributors to this volume acknowledge that true recoveries characterize a substantive proportion of recovery experiences and that suggestive therapeutic techniques may promote false memories. Disagreements continue to exist on the cognitive and motivational processes that can lead to true recoveries and the extent to which false recovered memories occur.
Related Concept Videos
Flashbulb Memory
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...
Repressed Memory
System of Memory
Traumatic Memory
Explicit Memories
Episodic memory contains information about personally experienced events and is reported as a story. An example of episodic memory is recalling a birthday celebration. This type of memory includes the what, where, and when of an event, as...

