Abstract

Two diarists recorded true and false events and thoughts over a period of 5 months. In recognition tests taken 7 months later, they discriminated between true and false diary entries and judged their state of memory awareness as recollective experience, feeling of familiarity, or no distinct state of awareness. Correct recognition rates for true events and thoughts were high. Events were associated with recollective experience and thoughts with feelings of familiarity. Incorrect recognition was higher for thoughts than events. False memories were associated with familiarity or no distinct state of awareness. For correct memories of events only, factors influencing encoding (importance, consequentiality, etc.) interacted with state of memory awareness at retrieval. The quality of phenomenal experience, based on the associations between encoding and retrieval, may be critical in leading a remeberer to accept a memory as true.

Keywords

Autobiographical memoryPsychologyFalse memoryPsychoanalysisCognitive psychologyHistoryRecall

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Publication Info

Year
1996
Type
article
Volume
125
Issue
1
Pages
69-95
Citations
150
Access
Closed

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Martin Conway, Alan F. Collins, Susan E. Gathercole et al. (1996). Recollections of true and false autobiographical memories.. Journal of Experimental Psychology General , 125 (1) , 69-95. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.125.1.69

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DOI
10.1037/0096-3445.125.1.69