False working memories? Semantic distortion in a mere 4 seconds

• Published in: Memory & cognition Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 74 - 81
• Main Authors: Atkins, Alexandra S., Reuter-Lorenz, Patricia A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01.01.2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Accuracy; Adult; Associative Processes; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive Processes; Cognitive Psychology; Experiments; False Memory; Female; Humans; Long Term Memory; Male; Medical imaging; Memoranda; Memory; Mental Recall; Phonology; Psychology; Recall; Repression, Psychology; Retention; Semantic Relations; Semantics; Short Term Memory; Time Factors; Word Recognition; Negative Probe; False Recognition; False Recall; False Memory; Retention Interval
• ISSN: 0090-502X; 1532-5946
• DOI: 10.3758/MC.36.1.74

False memories are well-established, episodic memory phenomena: Semantically related associates are confidently and erroneously remembered as studied items. We report four experiments yielding similar effects in a working memory paradigm. Four semantically related words were retained over a brief interval. Whether or not the interval was filled with a math verification task, semantically related lures were mistakenly recognized as members of the memory set and took longer to reject than did unrelated negative probes. In a short-term recall task, semantic intrusions exceeded other errors (e.g., phonemic). Our results demonstrate false memory effects for a subspan list when a mere 4 sec was given between study and test. Such rapid semantic errors presumably result from associative processing, may be related to familiarity-based proactive interference in working memory, and are consistent with recent models that integrate short- and long-term memory processes.