| An important
issue for theories of cognition is how well we remember things.
It is important because nearly every aspect of cognition depends
on memory to some degree. To understand problem solving, decision
making, attention, and perception, one needs to know the abilities
and limits of memory. The quality of memory is important for
practical reasons as well. Many significant events depend on
reports from human observers. From eyewitness testimony in murder
trials to arguments with a spouse about who said what, memory,
and memory accuracy, is critical. |
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What differentiates
this experiment from other memory experiments is that the
sequences are specially designed to bias observers to report
a particular word that was not included in the list. When
people report that one of these words was in the sequence,
but it really was not, they are having a false memory. In
some cases people will report that they vividly report seeing
(or hearing) the word, so their memory is very strong, despite
its inaccuracy.
Instructions
On the next screen,
you will be presented with two options. The first of these,
Demo, will let you participate in a "canned" version
of the false memory paradigm. That is, we've gone ahead and
set it up to be fully automated so that you need not enter
any parameters or other data. Just follow the instructions
on the screen, proceeding through each of the five lists until
the experiment has reached its end.
There is also
a second option on the next screen, Research. For lack of
a better term, we have designated this option for those of
you who wish to customize the paradigm for your own purposes.
Perhaps you have an actual study of false memories in mind
and you'd like to use the materials of Roediger & McDermott?
Well, now is your chance to do so!
Deese, J. (1959).
On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions
in immediate recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58,
17-22.
Roediger, H. L. III., & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating
false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, 21,803-814
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