B-02 · Memory Systems
Study the evidence, then testify. Some of what you will confidently remember was never shown to you.
Experimental design
Within-subjects; Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) list learning
Critical lure
High-associate theme word never presented during study but predicted by list items
False memory
Subjective recollection or recognition of an event that did not occur
Gist trace
Abstract meaning representation shared across list words (e.g., sleep-related concepts)
DRM paradigm
Lists of associates converging on a critical lure; reliably induces false recognition (Roediger & McDermott, 1995).
Spreading activation
Semantic priming whereby studied words activate related nodes, including the lure.
Remember vs. know
Subjective distinction between recollective detail (remember) and familiarity without context (know).
Difficulty
StandardEstimated time
11 minutes
Paradigm
DRM false memory
First published
1995
Memory is reconstructive. Studying words that all point at a missing theme word ('bed, rest, awake, tired…') reliably creates a vivid, confident memory of the word 'sleep', which never appeared.
James Deese observed the effect in 1959; Henry Roediger and Kathleen McDermott turned it into the standard DRM paradigm in 1995. Participants study lists of semantic associates of a critical lure. At test, the lure is falsely recalled and recognized at rates rivaling genuinely studied words, often with high-confidence 'remember' judgments. The paradigm showed that false memories are not exotic failures but a signature of a memory system that stores gist and reconstructs detail.
Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21(4), 803–814.