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phenomenon > memory phenomenon > DRM memory illusion

Preferred term

DRM memory illusion  

Definition(s)

  • Spontaneous associative false memory observed in the DRM paradigm: people incorrectly remember words that they have not studied because these words are semantically or phonologically associated with the studied words.

Broader concept(s)

Related concept(s)

Synonym(s)

  • Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory
  • Deese-Roediger-McDermott illusion
  • Deese-Roediger-McDermott memory illusion
  • DRM effect
  • DRM error
  • DRM false memory effect
  • DRM false memory illusion
  • DRM illusion
  • prototype-familiarity illusion

Belongs to group

Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • Abichou, K., La Corte, V., Nicolas, S., & Piolino, P. (2020). Les faux souvenirs dans le vieillissement normal: Données empiriques du paradigme DRM et perspectives théoriques. Geriatrie et Psychologie Neuropsychiatrie Du Vieillissement, 18, 65–75. https://doi.org/10.1684/pnv.2020.0842

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Brainerd, C. J. (2013). Developmental reversals in false memory: A new look at the reliability of children’s evidence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(5), 335–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413484468

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Brainerd, C. J., Reyna, V. F., & Holliday, R. E. (2018). Developmental reversals in false memory: Development is complementary, not compensatory. Developmental Psychology, 54(9), 1773–1784. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000554

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Chang, M., & Brainerd, C. J. (2021). Semantic and phonological false memory: A review of theory and data. Journal of Memory and Language, 119, 104210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2020.104210

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Coane, J. H., McBride, D. M., Huff, M. J., Chang, K., Marsh, E. M., & Smith, K. A. (2021). Manipulations of list type in the DRM paradigm : A review of how structural and conceptual similarity affect false memory. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.668550

    [Study type: literature review / Access: open]
  • • Coburn, P. I., Dogra, K. K., Rai, I. K., & Bernstein, D. M. (2021). The trajectory of targets and critical lures in the Deese/Roediger–Mcdermott paradigm: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.718818

    [Study type: literature review / Access: open]
  • • Deese, J. (1959). On the prediction of occurence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58(1), 17–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046671

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Gallo, D. A. (2006). Associative illusions of memory: false memory research in DRM and related tasks. Psychology Press.

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Gatti, D., Rinaldi, L., Mazzoni, G., & Vecchi, T. (2024). Semantic and episodic processes differently predict false memories in the DRM task. Scientific Reports, 14(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-50687-z

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: open]
  • • Huff, M. J., Bodner, G. E., & Fawcett, J. M. (2015). Effects of distinctive encoding on correct and false memory: A meta-analytic review of costs and benefits and their origins in the DRM paradigm. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 22(2), 349‑365. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0648-8

    [Study type: meta-analysis / Access: open]
  • • Israel, L., & Schacter, D. L. (1997). Pictorial encoding reduces false recognition of semantic associates. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4(4), 577–581. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03214352

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Jou, J., & Flores, S. (2013). How are false memories distinguishable from true memories in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm? A review of the findings. Psychological Research, 77(6), 671–686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0472-6

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Langevin, S., Sauzéon, H., Taconnat, L., & N’Kaoua, B. (2009). Les fausses reconnaissances induites par les paradigmes DRM, MI et tâches dérivées. L’Année Psychologique, 109(4), 699‑729. https://doi.org/10.4074/S0003503309004059

    [Study type: literature review / Access: open]
  • • McCabe, D. P., Presmanes, A. G., Robertson, C. L., & Smith, A. D. (2004). Item-specific processing reduces false memories. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 11(6), 1074–1079. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196739

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: open]
  • • Newbury, C. R., & Monaghan, P. (2019). When does sleep affect veridical and false memory consolidation? A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26(2), 387–400. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-018-1528-4

    [Study type: meta-analysis / Access: open]
  • • Pansuwan, T., Breuer, F., Gazder, T., Lau, Z., Cueva, S., Swanson, L., Taylor, M., Wilson, M., & Morcom, A. M. (2020). Evidence for adult age-invariance in associative false recognition. Memory, 28(2), 172–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2019.1705351

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Pardilla-Delgado, E., & Payne, J. D. (2017). The Deese-Roediger-Mcdermott (DRM) task : A simple cognitive paradigm to investigate false memories in the laboratory. JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments), 119, e54793. https://doi.org/10.3791/54793

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Robin, F., Ménétrier, E., & Beffara Bret, B. (2022). Effects of visual imagery on false memories in DRM and misinformation paradigms. Memory, 30(6), 725–732. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2021.1895221

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Robinson, K. J., & Roediger III, H. L. (1997). Associative processes in false recall and false recognition. Psychological Science, 8(3), 231–237. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00417.x

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21(4), 803–814. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.803

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Roediger III, H. L., & Gallo, D. A. (2022). Associative memory illusions. In R. F. Pohl (Ed.), Cognitive illusions : Intriguing phenomena in thinking, judgment, and memory (3rd ed.). Routledge.

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Roediger III, H.L., H., Balota, D., & Watson, J. (2001). Spreading activation and arousal of false memories. In H. L. Roediger III, J. S. Nairne, & I. Neath (Eds.), The nature of remembering: Essays in honor of Robert G. Crowder (pp. 95–115). American Psychological Association Press. https://doi.org/10.1037/10394-006

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Schacter, D. L., Israel, L., & Racine, C. (1999). Suppressing false recognition in younger and older adults: The distinctiveness heuristic. Journal of Memory and Language, 40(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1998.2611

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Smith, R. E., & Hunt, R. R. (1998). Presentation modality affects false memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 5(4), 710–715. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208850

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: open]
  • • Suarez, M., & Beato, M. S. (2021). The role of language proficiency in false memory: A mini review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.659434

    [Study type: literature review / Access: open]
  • • Wiechert, S., Proost, D., Simoens, E., Ben-Shakhar, G., Pertzov, Y., & Verschuere, B. (2024). The effect of negative valence on false memory formation in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm: A preregistered meta-analysis and preregistered replication. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(3), 621–655. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001527

    [Study type: empirical study, meta-analysis, replication / Access: closed]
  • • Zwaan, R. A., Pecher, D., Paolacci, G., Bouwmeester, S., Verkoeijen, P., Dijkstra, K., & Zeelenberg, R. (2018). Participant Nonnaiveté and the reproducibility of cognitive psychology. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(5), 1968‑1972. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1348-y

    [Study type: empirical study, replication / Access: open]

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

Has model(s)

Has study method(s)

Has theory(ies)

Moderator variable(s)

  • • Age: The effect is less present in young children than in older children and adults (Brainerd, 2013; Brainerd et al., 2018). Aging is associated with greater susceptibility to the effect, especially in recall(Abichou et al., 2020; Gallo, 2006; Pansuwan et al., 2020).
  • • Associative strength: backward associative strength of list words with the critical lure intensifies the effect compared to forward associative strength (Roediger, Balota & Watson, 2001).
  • • Concreteness: more false recognition for abstract than for concrete words (Hirshman & Arndt, 1997).
  • • Emotion: false memories in the DRM paradigm with semantic lists are more frequent when the critical lures are emotionally negative, compared to emotionally neutral lures. The opposite is observed with phonological lists (Chang & Brainerd, 2021).
  • • Encoding: The effect is stronger when participants are instructed to study the words in a DRM list by relating them, compared to an instruction where participants are asked to focus on the specificity of each word (item-specific processing) (McCabe et al., 2004).
  • • Level of processing: deep processing of semantic list items promotes the DRM effect compared to shallow processing. The opposite is observed with phonological lists (Chang & Brainerd, 2001).
  • • List presentation: consecutive (blocked) presentation of DRM lists intensifies the effect compared to a presentation where words from different lists are mixed (Gallo, 2006).
  • • Number of associates: the effect increases as the number of items associated with the critical lure increases in a DRM list (Robinson & Roediger, 1997).
  • • Presentation rate: among fast rates, slowing the presentation time increases false recall of semantic lists; beyond that, when rates are further slowed, false recall tends to decrease. For phonological lists, the number of false recalls is very high for the fastest presentation rate and then decreases monotonically as the presentation rate is lengthened (McDermott & Watson, 2001).
  • • Stimulus format: the use of pictures reduces false recognition in a DRM task compared to words (Israel & Schacter, 1997; Schacter et al., 1999).
  • • Stimulus modality: visual presentation of words reduces the effect compared to auditory presentation in long-term memory with semantic lists (Chang & Brainerd, 2021; Smith & Hunt, 1998).
  • • Visual imagery: forming mental images of items to be remembered reduces the effect (Chang & Brainerd, 2021; Robin et al., 2021).
  • • Word frequency: More false recognition for high-frequency words than for low-frequency words (Hishman & Arndt, 1997).
  • • Word length: effect is reduced with longer critical lures (Roediger et al., 2001).

Dataset citation(s)

  • • Bücken, C. A., & Otgaar, H. (2020, June 23). lying and DRM type false memories (DRM Videos). https://osf.io/4s37n/
  • • Calado, B., Otgaar, H., & Muris, P. (2018, September 27). Are Children Better Witnesses than Adolescents? Developmental Trends in Different False Memory Paradigms. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/6EMH2
  • • Calvillo, D. P. (2019, February 8). Fluency and the DRM effect. https://osf.io/jp2dm/
  • • Crozier, W. E., & Strange, D. (2018, May 22). Associations with Guilty using the DRM Paradigm. https://osf.io/b7wux/
  • • Dechterenko, F., Lukavsky, J., & Štipl, J. (2020, September 25). False memories for scenes using DRM paradigm. https://osf.io/sqjbn/
  • • Dewhurst, S. (2009, janvier 27). Identifying the origin of false memories : A comparison of DRM and categorised lists. [Data Collection]. Economic and Social Research Council. doi:10.5255/UKDA-SN-850078
  • • Friehs, M. A. (2021, May 6). DRM tDCS. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/X5QAS
  • • Geiger, S. J., Haaf, J. M., Rieble, C., Haas, H., Rameckers, S., Gavan, L., & Aust, F. (2019, November 29). A Bayesian Meta-Analysis on Developmental Effects in the DRM Paradigm. https://osf.io/62nfg/
  • • Houben, S., & Otgaar, H. (2019, October 8). False memory effects of EMDR. https://osf.io/gx7te/
  • • Houben, S. T. L., Otgaar, H., Roelofs, J., Smeets, T., & Merckelbach, H. (2020). Increases of correct memories and spontaneous false memories due to eye movements when memories are retrieved after a time delay [Data set]. DataverseNL. doi:10.34894/FPWRLZ
  • • Huff, M. J., & Maxwell, N. P. (2021, July 19). Drawing Individual Images Benefits Recognition Accuracy in the DRM Paradigm. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/R4YH9
  • • Klemfuss, J. Z., & Olaguez, A. P. (2020). Individual differences in children’s suggestibility: An updated review. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 29(2), 158–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2018.1508108
  • • Kloft, L., & Henry. (2019). Hazy memories : Cannabis increases susceptibility to false memory. OSF. https://osf.io/k5v8c/
  • • Otgaar, H., Bücken, C. A., Houtstra, L., & Mangiulli, I. (2020, February 3). Denial-Induced Forgetting, Inhibition, and False Memory. https://osf.io/kp2j4/
  • • Pansuwan, T., Swanson, L., & Morcom, A. (2019, March 15). Associative and Perceptual False Memory in Ageing. https://osf.io/45w3t/
  • • Riesthuis, P., Otgaar, H., & Mangiulli, I. (2021, April 28). The Impact of Forced Confabulation on Spontaneous False Memory Formation. https://osf.io/y587d/
  • • Robin, F., Menetrier, E., & Beffara Bret, B. (2021, June 11). Effect of visual imagery on false memories in DRM and Misinformation paradigms. https://osf.io/zsh3b/
  • • Schopen, K., Otgaar, H., & Howe, M. L. (2021, January 19). The Effects of Warning on Children’s and Adults’ False Memory Creation. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/WBCZQ
  • • Self referencing and false memory exp 2b. (2020). OSF. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/5JG6B
  • • van Rijn, E., Cox, E., Carter, N., McMurtrie, H., Willner, P., & Blagrove, M. T. (2015). Sleep Does Not Cause False Memories on the Deese-Roediger-McDermott Paradigm nor on a Story-Based Test of Suggestibility [Data set]. Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.23012
  • • Zwaan, R. A., Pecher, D., Bouwmeester, S., Verkoeijen, P., Zeelenberg, R., Dijkstra, K., & Paolacci, G. (2017, July 26). Does Repeated Participation Affect Effect Size? An Analysis of 9 Cognitive Psychological Experiments. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/GHV6M

In other languages

  • illusion mnésique DRM

    French

  • faux souvenir DRM
  • illusion de Deese-Roediger-McDermott
  • illusion DRM
  • illusion mnésique de Deese-Roediger-McDermott

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-W96GW5QP-6

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