title: Correcting false memories: Errors must be noticed and replaced.
abstract: Memory can be unreliable. For example, after reading The new baby stayed awake all night, people often misremember that the new baby cried all night (Brewer, 1977); similarly, after hearing bed, rest, and tired, people often falsely remember that sleep was on the list (Roediger & McDermott, 1995). In general, such false memories are difficult to correct, persisting despite warnings and additional study opportunities. We argue that errors must first be detected to be corrected; consistent with this argument, two experiments showed that false memories were nearly eliminated when conditions facilitated comparisons between participants' errors and corrective feedback (e.g., immediate trial-by-trial feedback that allowed direct comparisons between their responses and the correct information). However, knowledge that they had made an error was insufficient; unless the feedback message also contained the correct answer, the rate of false memories remained relatively constant. On the one hand, there is nothing special about correcting false memories: simply labeling an error as "wrong" is also insufficient for correcting other memory errors, including misremembered facts or mistranslations. However, unlike these other types of errors--which often benefit from the spacing afforded by delayed feedback--false memories require a special consideration: Learners may fail to notice their errors unless the correction conditions specifically highlight them.
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. hillary.mullet@duke.edu.|Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Box 90086, Durham, NC, 27708-0086, USA. hillary.mullet@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Hillary G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Mullet
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Box 90086, Durham, NC, 27708-0086, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Marsh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D030141:Feedback, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Error correction; False memories; Feedback