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Category: Project

Description: In the current experiment, the Deese/ Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false memory paradigm was used to elicit nonbelieved memories (NBMs). Specifically, the research focused on examining to what extent valence (negative versus neutral), the type of stimulus (picture versus word), and the type of memory (true versus false) might impact the creation of NBMs. After a recognition test, true and false memories, that were evoked during the DRM paradigm, were challenged using social feedback by the experimenter in order to undermine belief and create NBMs. Prior to and after the challenge manipulation, the participants were instructed to give ratings for recollection, belief in occurrence, and belief in accuracy for each item. It has been hypothesized that it would be more difficult to undermine belief for negative compared to neutral items, for pictures compared to words and for true memories compared to false memories. Therefore, participants were expected to be most likely to resist challenges for negative materials, for pictures, and true memories, leading to the creation of fewer NBMs. Gathering empirical evidence for the hypotheses was challenging, as the tested sample size was too low. Nevertheless, results did show that undermining belief had contrasting consequences for true and false memories. That is, belief in true memories decreased less after the challenge manipulation. Research about NBMs would benefit from replicating this experiment with a larger sample size.