Mild executive dysfunctions in undergraduates are related to recollecting words never presented.
The aim of this study was to explore whether individual differences in executive function in undergraduate students (n = 72) contribute to false recall and recognition as obtained with the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Participants were subjected to the DRM paradigm and also were given a test designed to assess executive function--the Random Number Generation task (RNG). A relationship was found between heightened seriation on the RNG (indicating a deficiency in the ability to inhibit cognitive schemes) and false recognition of non-presented, critical lure words in the DRM paradigm. This suggests that individual differences in executive function do occur in a healthy population and that the reconstructive activity inherent in memory depends in part on executive functioning.
Peters
Maarten J V
MJ
Maastricht University, Faculty of Psychology Department of Experimental Psychology, Maastricht, The Netherlands. m.peters@psychology.unimaas.nl
Jelicic
Marko
M
Haas
Nicole
N
Merckelbach
Harald
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007721:Knowledge of Results, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010153:Paired-Associate Learning / Q000502:physiology; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D014936:Word Association Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data