Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 25, 2026

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott DRM Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory
Published on: January 31, 2017
Who is susceptible in three false memory tasks?
Rebecca M Nichols1, Elizabeth F Loftus2
1a School of Social Sciences , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore , Singapore.
Abstract:
Decades of research show that people are susceptible to developing false memories. But if they do so in one task, are they likely to do so in a different one? The answer: "No". In the current research, a large number of participants took part in three well-established false memory paradigms (a misinformation task, the Deese-Roediger-McDermott [DRM] list learning paradigm, and an imagination inflation exercise) as well as completed several individual difference measures. Results indicate that many correlations between false memory variables in all three inter-paradigm comparisons are null, though some small, positive, significant correlations emerged. Moreover, very few individual difference variables significantly correlated with false memories, and any significant correlations were rather small. It seems likely, therefore, that there is no false memory "trait". In other words, no one type of person seems especially prone, or especially resilient, to the ubiquity of memory distortion.
More Related Videos
08:53Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories
Published on: November 14, 2018
17:45T-maze Forced Alternation and Left-right Discrimination Tasks for Assessing Working and Reference Memory in Mice
Published on: February 26, 2012
Related Concept Videos
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information...
Magnetic Susceptibility and Permeability
When diamagnetic materials are placed under an external magnetic field, the moments opposite to the field are induced. Hence, the susceptibility for diamagnets has a minimal negative value of 10-5–10-6. Since...
System of Memory
Working Memory
Susceptibility, Permittivity and Dielectric Constant
Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory can be categorized into two primary types: explicit and implicit memory. Explicit memory, also known as declarative memory, involves the conscious recollection of information that we deliberately try to remember, recall, and articulate. This type of memory encompasses specific facts, events, and...