Abstract
In three experiments, we examined the effect of embellished content on memory errors for thematically related items as well as whether an encoding manipulation, specifically instructions to visualize content, further affects those errors. Using a modified Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm, participants listened to subsets of DRM items embedded within scene descriptions. Some descriptions embellished item connections, weaving them into cohesive scenes. Other descriptions only made general reference to scenes, mentioning the items in list-like format. Listening to more detailed descriptions, compared to general scene references, elicited higher false recognition errors (Experiments 1 and 3). However, when description details varied within the same encoding series, as expected, false recognition errors did not differ significantly (Experiments 2 and 3). Results further suggest that more detailed content was more vividly imagined, providing one possible mechanism for increases in false recognition (Experiment 3). Implications for theoretical discussions of encoding task effects on false recognition errors are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Adina Fried, Catherine Haorei, Hannah Levine, Krista McMurray, Stephanie Madlener, and Jennifer Wicks for their dedication to this project. We thank Adina Fried as well for her thoughtful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant #BCS 1023890.
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Appendix
Appendix
Examples of cohesiveness materials
After reading each 4-item list, the experimenter read the corresponding description
Example 1: Set 1: door, glass, shade, curtain | Set 2: Shutter, house, screen sill |
|---|---|
Cohesive type | |
Low | Set 1: A house with a door, shades, curtain, and glass |
Set 2: A house with screens, sills, and shutters | |
High | Set 1: A person is debating about whether to use a shade or curtains cover glass on the front door of a brown house |
Set 2: A haunted house with broken screens, dusty sills, and flapping shutters | |
Example 2: Set 1: blouse, pants, tie, button | Set 2: Shorts, collar, vest, sweater |
|---|---|
Cohesive type | |
Low | Set 1: A woman wearing a blouse, buttons, pants, and tie |
Set 2: A dog collar, a pair of shorts, a vest, and a sweater | |
High | Set 1: A woman getting ready for work and wearing a blouse with buttons and pants with a tie around the waist |
Set 2: Someone running with a dog. The dog has a collar. The person is wearing shorts and a vest and got hot so the person took off the sweater they were wearing |
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Bays, R.B., Foley, M.A. & Cohen, A. Is it all in the details? Description content and false recognition errors. Cogn Process 21, 185–196 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-019-00945-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-019-00945-8