Compelling untruths: content borrowing and vivid false memories.
False memories are sometimes accompanied by surprisingly vivid experiential detail that makes them difficult to distinguish from actual memories. Such strikingly real false memories may be produced by a process called content borrowing in which details from presented items are errantly borrowed to corroborate the occurrence of the false memory item. In 2 experiments using think-out-loud protocols at both study and test, evidence for content borrowing occurred for more than half of the false remember judgments participants reported. The present study also provides evidence consistent with recollection rejection and distinctiveness playing a role in false-memory editing.
Lampinen
James Michael
JM
Department of Psychology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA. lampinen@uark.edu
Meier
Christopher R
CR
Arnal
Jack D
JD
Leding
Juliana K
JK
D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D014342:Truth Disclosure