Thesis (B.A.)--Bryn Mawr College, Dept. of Psychology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2006. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. Hutchison. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-44).

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The primary objective of the present thesis was to investigate factors that influence the creation of false memories using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. The experimental research addressed the effect of age, list length, and list content on the magnitude of the DRM illusion with a view to testing assumptions derived from activation-monitoring theory and Fuzzy Trace Theory. In the first experiment, I wanted to determine whether the DRM paradigm is appropriate for use with New Zealand English-speaking adults. In addition, Experiment 1 was designed to assess the effect of prior recall on recognition performance. To answer these questions, I assigned half of the participants to a recall-plus-recognition condition and the remaining participants to a recognition-only condition. Rates of false recall and recognition were comparable to those reported in the literature, which suggested that the task is suitable for use with New Zealand adults. Furthermore, prior recall enhanced correct recognition but it did not affect false recognition. In Experiment 2, I examined how manipulations of list-length affected children and adults' susceptibility to the DRM illusion. Ten-year-olds and adults studied eight lists of either 7 or 14 words. In the 14-word condition, adults falsely recalled more critical targets than children; however, in the 7-word condition, there was no age difference in false recall. In addition, adults falsely recognised a greater proportion of critical targets than children, however, this effect was not dependent on the length of the study list. In Experiments 3A and 3B, I examined whether presenting highly familiar study materials would enhance children's susceptibility to false memories. Ten-year-old children and adults studied four standard DRM lists, four new lists that centred on 'child-friendly' concepts, such as birthday and school (CF lists), and four lists derived from child word-association norms. In both experiments, there was no age difference in rates of false recall. In addition, presenting material that was deemed more developmentally appropriate did not enhance children's susceptibility to false memories relative to adults. In Experiment 4, I introduced a post-recall phase to examine why the DRM illusion is less likely to occur when short lists are presented and when the materials are child-friendly. During the post-recall phase, participants were asked to report any other words that they had thought of during the presentation or recall of the study lists. Thinking about the target word, but remembering that it had not been presented, could not account for decreased levels of false recall in the short-list condition. Similarly, with the CF lists, it appeared that the list items were less likely to activate the critical target for both children and adults. In the final three experiments, I explored the assumptions outlined in activation-monitoring theory and fuzzy-trace theory to determine which model provided the best account of the findings obtained to date. To explore the activation-monitoring account, children and adults completed word association tasks. To explore fuzzy-trace theory, children and adults were given a gist extraction task where they had to identify the critical targets associated with each list. Collectively, the results of the present thesis fit more comfortably within an activation-monitoring framework than they do within the fuzzy-trace framework. Although the precise mechanisms underlying the DRM illusion have yet to be elucidated, the present findings suggest that gist extraction, activation processes, and source monitoring each play a substantial role in mediating false memory levels.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : 86-92).

Thesis (PhD) - Swinburne University of Technology, School of Biophysical Sciences and Electrical Engineering, 2004. / A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Biophysical Sciences and Electrical Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology - 2004. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-287).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2007. / "UMI Number 3282647" - T.p. verso. Typescript. Includes vita. Advisor: Katinka Dijkstra, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-64).

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-69).

We investigated the creation of false memories in the Deese - Roediger - McDermott paradigm. We tested the hypothesis that the false recognition rates will be greater for the critical lures than for unrelated and related distractors. We tested whether there is a direct relationship between semantic relatedness of distractors and their false recognition rates. Our data supported these hypotheses. We concluded that our results support semantic priming and the spreading activation theory, and that the fuzzy-trace theory provides a fitting explanation for our findings. Also, we the measured reaction times of recognition test responses. We tested whether there is a difference in the reaction times of the recognition test responses for true memories, represented by correct recognition of studied words, and false memories, represented by false recognition of nonstudied, critical lures. We tested whether source monitoring plays a significant role in the creation of false memories. Our results showed slower reaction time for false recognition of critical lures than the reaction time for false recognition of nonrelated distractors. This finding suggests that semantic priming and the spreading activation theory alone cannot explain the reaction time data. We concluded that source monitoring is an important factor in creation of false memories in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. In addition, we tested whether the reaction time for false recognition of critical lures is greater than reaction time for correct recognition of studied words as would predict the fuzzy-trace theory. Our data support predictions of the fuzzy-trace theory. Our findings suggest that the fuzzy-trace theory provides fitting explanation for the false memory phenomenon.

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