Concerns about confounds: False memory as an explanation for a hippocampus-supported implicit eye-movement-based...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging
• Memory Research

Background:

• Relational memory effects, often linked to hippocampal activity, have been challenged by claims of explicit false memory confounds.
• Steinkrauss and Slotnick (2024) proposed that observed implicit eye-movement-based effects are artifacts of false memory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate the false memory confound hypothesis proposed by Steinkrauss and Slotnick (2024).
• To present alternative accounts of false memory in relational memory tasks.
• To provide additional neuroimaging evidence supporting original conclusions.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of implicit eye-movement-based relational memory effects.
• Consideration of alternative false memory models.
• Presentation of new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data.

Main Results:

• The logic of the false memory confound proposed by Steinkrauss and Slotnick is underdeveloped.
• Alternative models of false memory yield different predictions, including ones consistent with original findings.
• Converging evidence from an additional fMRI study supports the original interpretation of hippocampal involvement.

Conclusions:

• The proposed false memory confound does not fully explain implicit relational memory effects.
• Original conclusions regarding hippocampal activity and relational memory are supported by alternative theoretical accounts and new empirical data.
• Further investigation into the interplay between explicit and implicit memory processes is warranted.