Ascertaining false memories: Recalling words not presented in lists.
Memory Exposition Experiment
Abstract
The purpose of this experiment was to establish whether people were able to exhibit false and true memories and at the same rates. The hypothesis of the experiment was If the experiment conducted by Roediger, H. L., III, & McDermott, K. B. on creating false memories saw a genuine False Memory effect, then randomizing the words should make no difference, and we should also see a False Memory effect. The participants comprised of class members of a psychology class. The participants were taken through a list of words and advised to make a mental memory of as many words as they could remember. The participants were later presented with a list where new words and critical lures had been added on to the original words. The respondents were then asked to indicate on a likert scale whether they could identify the words in the list. The likert scale was rated one to five with 1 = definitely not in the list to 5 = definitely in the list.
Introduction
Memory is a very significant aspect of the human being. Man uses memory on an everyday basis to carry out every task presented to him. All decisions made are mainly based on ones experiences and the responses made on them. Man also defines himself based on the memory of the decisions one has made in the past and how people have reacted to them. Man also connects to other members on different levels depending on the memory of how the same persons have treated him in the past. The passing of school exams, development of the relevant skills in life is also purely relied upon on the cognitive ability of the individual. This shows that without memory, the mere existence of man is endangered because man does not rely on instincts but on pure memory to survive and make judgment (Koontz, 2000).
In all instances, the memory retrieved is perceived to be reliable and depicts the actual events as they occurred. There are instances however, where the memory fails and one is unable to give a clear depiction of what happened even though one actually witnessed. This occurs when one forgets a persons name even though one knew it in the past. Memory also fails when one tends to regard imaginary ideas as memories of real events. This issue has greatly fascinated the minds of psychologists who have dedicated intense research on the issue. This lab explores the nature of memory and relies on the materials and research by Roediger, H. L., III, & McDermott, K. B. on creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists.
A false memory occurs when one considers an imaginative idea to be an actual one that he or she experienced in the past. On their experiment, Roediger and McDermont came up with a group of words and investigated on the recall abilities of the respondents on the given words. Roediger and McDermott tested False Memory by taking a certain psychology class through lists of fifteen words that were related to each other in various aspects. The participants in this experiment were asked to take note of the words presented to them and create a theme for every word that was presented to them in class. The respondents were required to make later a recollection to as many words in the original lists as possible. The researchers later added more words into the list, which was unlisted in the original list. Among the words added, were words termed as critical lures, related to the words in the study phase. The participants were to indicate in the final list whether they would recall the any of the words in the list or not. Roediger and McDermott found out from this experiment that the respondents could identify the critical lures in the recognition phase as highly as they did words actually previously presented (Roediger and McDermott, 1995).
Method
The study is a variation of Roediger and McDermont ( 1995), memory experiment.
Participants
The whole experiment entailed sixty-one participants, who were all students of a psychology class. The participants got instructions on the various actions to take in indicating their rating of the words recognized. The experimenter ensured that all the participants had fully understood the necessary instructions.
Apparatus
The experiment took place in a computer screen. The computer software used was “fmexp2009” saved in the laboratory computer.
Materials
Stimuli: The stimuli consisted of ninety-six words derived from Roediger and McDermont (1995), memory experiment. These words use was during the study phase and the recognition phase.
Structure: The structure of the experiment is also similar to that of Roediger and McDermont (1995), memory experiment that includes study list; filled retention interval; recognition test.
Dependent variables: The dependent variables were the words shown to the participants. The classification of the words is in three distinct levels: old words, new words and critical lures.
The description of the old words is the set of words presented to the participants during the study phase. The new words are words that are included in the recognition phase but had not been included in the study phase. These words are very different and are of no relation to the new words. The new words consist of words related to those in the study phase. An example is the word chair. Critical lures to this word are table, leg or stool.
Dependent variables: The dependent variables in this experiment are the responses given by the respondents. The response of the participants will rely on the stimuli words.
Aspects of the experiment: The respondents are encouraged to imagine of a theme pertaining to each of the words presented to them in the study phase. The participants will be presented with the relevant stimuli in a completely randomised order. The dependent variable offered by the respondent will be measured on a 5-point scale as opposed to the usual yes or no response order. The participants will also be allowed to indicate on the confidence levels of recalling an item viewed in the study phase. The 5-point scale will allow participants to indicate responses ranging from a scale of 1 to 5
Design: Within-subjects
IV: type of word, with 3 levels (OLD, NEW and CRITICAL LURE). The three conditions are presented to participants in a random order. I.e., in the Recognition phase, old words, new words, and critical lures are randomly ordered in the list.
DV: recognition confidence rating (measured on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 = Definitely not in the list to 5 = Definitely in the list).
Procedure
The participants were first taken thorough the importance of the study and the benefits in taking part in such a study. They were then given the relevant instructions on what the experiment would and the designed responses that were expected of them. The time duration was also communicated. The experimenter ensured that all the participants had good eyesight and that the words could be clearly seen within the distance between the participant and the image. The experiment involved two phases; the study phase and the recognition phase. During the study phase, the participants were presented with lists of ninety six words from eight of the study taken by (Roediger, & McDermott 1995). The words presented were each shown at similar time intervals of two seconds for each word. After this phase, the participants were allowed a two minutes break to process the words they had seen.
The recognition phase involved also ninety-six words which comprised of forty old words that had been previously been presented to the participants. The words were equally from the eight lists. It also included eight critical lures. These words were highly associated with those presented to the candidates. Forty-eight new words presented to the participants were also included in the recognition phase.
The ninety-six words presented to the participants in a random order, when one word appeared, the participants indicated in the 5-point scale on how they perceived the particular item.
Results
lab 1 group c data
Table 2
| The mean rating | The standard deviation | |
| Old words | 3.9541 | .44117 |
| New words | 2.0580 | .52269 |
| Critical lures | 3.0553 | .79893 |
Analysis
lab 1 group c data shows three values for the old words, new words and critical allures regarding the responses for al the ninety six responses. The values indicated were the means for the respective responses. The mean for the old words was by dividing the confidence ratings by forty. The one for new words was by dividing the total ratings by forty-eight and eight divided those for the critical allures.
The standard deviation is a measure of dispersion of given data. For the given data above, the various responses were recorded and their ratings indicated. This average mean was calculated and squared to obtain the variance. Finding the square root of the variance would result in the variance of the responses.
From the above table 2, the standard deviations of the old words, new words and the critical lures were .44117, .52269 and .79893 respectively.
The participants were unable to distinguish clearly the words shown to them in the study phase from the critical lures.
The critical lures scored a similar rating to those presented to them in the study phase
The words displayed in the study phase scored a very high rating in comparison with the new words presented in the recognition phase.
Discussion
The aim of this experiment was to establish the possibility of persons to have a false memory of a certain occurrence. The results obtained from the experiments showed that the rate at which the participants described the critical lures as positive was the similar or close to the old words. The new words entered a very low score, which was less than half.
The high mean rating for old words of 3.9541 as compared to that of 2.0580 for new words and the close rating for the critical allures of 3.0553 indicated the participants formed associations between the study phase words and the critical allures. Eliminating the phase of presenting the lists one at a time eliminated the hypothesis regarding the creation of false memory in R&M’s method. The mean rating for the critical allures being close to the old words and higher than the new words indicates this.
The memory faculties of a human being usually stores items in form of images or ideas. When the memory faculties receive a given word, it usually activates critical words that are associated with the word or the given action. For example when one hears the word “seat”, critical words like chair, table, leg, etc. are also activated in the process. When it comes to recalling, the themes or words activated come to mind with the presentation of the word. This explains why the participants ended up confusing the critical lures to the study words (Lopez, 2008).
References
Koontz, D. ( 2000). False Memory. New York: Bantam Books.
Lopez, A. ( 2008). False memory. New York. The University of Michigan.
Roediger, H. L., III, & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 21, 803-814.
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