False Memory Regression Analysis

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“Factors that determine false recall,” article by Roediger, et al., uses multiple regression to test major factors believed to predict elicitation of false memories using the DRM (Deese, Roediger-McDermot) paradigm. The DRM presents participants with a list of 15 words that are semantically associated with a non-presented critical item; words such as sill, shade, screen, and ledge are associated with the critical word “window.” In a free recall task, subjects are told to write down only words from prior learning, but they unknowingly include the critical word as belonging to the list at a high rate, revealing the power of suggestion in forming false episodes remembered as part of a previous experience. Results in studies show the effect is robust when compared to other comparable paradigms, but there is great variability in the effectiveness of particular word lists. Lists created around critical, unpresented words sleep and smell produce recall of the lure in more than 60% of trials, while lists created around fruit and king have efficacy rates around 10-20%. Thus, we ask: what properties of word lists contribute most to successful false memory recall? If we could determine the effectiveness of several presumed predictors, we can explain the wide variance observed among the word lists and create better lists for future administration. …show more content…
High BAS list scores predict a higher chance of false recall, revealing that the more associated the study words are to the critical item, the more participants will be primed to include that critical item into their recall list. Recall-ability of the list correlates negatively to false recall, showing that the better participants are at recalling study words, the less prone they are to make a false memory