The recent identification of highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) raised the possibility that there may be individuals who are immune to memory distortions. We measured HSAM participants' and age- and sex-matched controls' susceptibility to false memories using several research paradigms. HSAM participants and controls were both susceptible to false recognition of nonpresented critica...

Previous research has shown that older adults are more susceptible to false facial recognition than younger adults, possibly related to changes in the frontal cortices. We hypothesized that false recognition would be related to poorer performance on measures of memory monitoring, decision-making, and “frontal” functioning. Forty-one older adults, classified as high or low frontal based on stand...

The current experiment was designed to assess the mnemonic consequences of false denials and forced confabulations. Children (aged 6-8 and 10-12 years) and adults viewed a video and then their memory and belief about the event were tested. Participants were then divided into three groups. In the "cued recall" condition, participants were asked to answer true- and false-event questions, but coul...

OBJECTIVE Numerous studies show changes in vulnerability to false memory formation across development and into senescence. No study, however, has compared false memory formation in the critical transition period spanning late adolescence to middle adulthood. METHOD Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, we explored the effects of age and of emotion on false memory formation in you...

BACKGROUND Detection of feigned neurocognitive deficits is a challenge for neuropsychological assessment. We conducted two studies to examine whether memory malingering is characterized by an elevated proportion of false negatives during yes/no recognition testing and whether this could be a useful measure for assessment. METHODS Study 1 examined 51 participants claiming compensation due to m...

BACKGROUND The memory deficit hypothesis has been used to explain the maintenance of repetitive behavior in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder, yet the majority of studies focusing on verbal memory show mixed results. These studies primarily evaluated memory accuracy via the inclusion or omission of previously encountered material, as opposed to false recognition (i.e., the inclusio...

Like true memories, false memories are capable of priming answers to insight-based problems. Recent research has attempted to extend this paradigm to more advanced problem-solving tasks, including those involving verbal analogical reasoning. However, these experiments are constrained inasmuch as problem solutions could be generated via spreading activation mechanisms (much like false memories t...