Inferential false memories of events: Negative consequences protect from distortions when the events are free from further elaboration

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted to investigate whether negative emotionally charged and arousing content of to-be-remembered scripted material would affect propensity towards memory distortions. We further investigated whether elaboration of the studied material through free recall would affect the magnitude of memory errors. In this study participants saw eight scripts. Each of the scripts included an effect of an action, the cause of which was not presented. Effects were either negatively emotional or neutral. Participants were assigned to either a yes/no recognition test group (recognition), or to a recall and yes/no recognition test group (elaboration + recognition). Results showed that participants in the recognition group produced fewer memory errors in the emotional condition. Conversely, elaboration + recognition participants had lower accuracy and produced more emotional memory errors than the other group, suggesting a mediating role of semantic elaboration on the generation of false memories. The role of emotions and semantic elaboration on the generation of false memories is discussed.

Keywords:

• Emotions
• Semantic elaboration
• Memory distortions
• Remember/familiar judgements

We thank Julia Ross for editorial assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. We thank all children and parents who volunteered as being photographed (making thus possible the preparation of our paradigm) and, further, the parents who accepted to have their photographs published (‘family dinner’ script).

We thank Julia Ross for editorial assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. We thank all children and parents who volunteered as being photographed (making thus possible the preparation of our paradigm) and, further, the parents who accepted to have their photographs published (‘family dinner’ script).

Notes

¹ Scripts are standard sequences of actions which characterise a particular event (Schank & Abelson, 1977). Although some of the actions represented in our events may not be the only typical situations of the episodes, ratings of typicality obtained with adults showed that the actions represented were indeed recognised and endorsed as those typically found within the situation described.