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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 18, 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

When forced fabrications become truth: causal explanations and false memory development.

Quin M Chrobak¹, Maria S Zaragoza

¹Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI 54901, USA. chrobakq@uwosh.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. General

|September 19, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

False memories can form when suggestive interviews provide explanations for events. People incorporate fabricated details into memory if they help explain outcomes, impacting eyewitness testimony reliability.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Memory Studies
Forensic Psychology

Background:

Individuals naturally seek causal explanations for events to achieve coherence.
Memory errors can arise from suggestive interviewing techniques in forensic contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of explanatory coherence in the development of false memories.
To test the explanatory role hypothesis regarding memory fabrication in suggestive interviews.

Main Methods:

Utilized a forced fabrication paradigm across three experiments.
Manipulated the explanatory role of forced fabrications in participants' memory.

Main Results:

Forced fabrications were more likely to be reported or assented to if they provided a causal explanation.
Memory errors were reduced when alternative explanations weakened the fabricated details' explanatory strength.

Conclusions:

The search for explanatory coherence influences memory errors, even weeks after an event.
Misinformation from interviews can be integrated into memory if it serves an explanatory function, impacting event recall.