Effects of Forming Mental Images on True and False Memories

The present study examined the activation of imaginal information on true and false memories. We asked whether forming mental images would lead to increases in true and false memories relative to a control group that did not form images. Participants in both groups studied 288 unrelated concrete obj...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Chang, Sau Hou, Pierce, Benton
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published 2018
Subjects
College Students
Imagination
Memory
Recall (Psychology)
Recognition (Psychology)
Statistical Analysis
Visualization
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Summary:The present study examined the activation of imaginal information on true and false memories. We asked whether forming mental images would lead to increases in true and false memories relative to a control group that did not form images. Participants in both groups studied 288 unrelated concrete objects, in which some of the objects were presented as pictures, some as words in a red font, and some as both a picture and a red word. Participants then took a standard recognition memory test and two criterial recollection tests. Results showed that hit rates in the imagery group were significantly higher than those in the control group, but false alarm rates did not differ between groups. These results suggest that under certain conditions, mental imagery can lead to enhanced memory without the cost of increased false memories.