Forward association, backward association, and the false-memory illusion.

Abstract

In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false-memory illusion, forward associative strength (FAS) is unrelated to the strength of the illusion; this is puzzling, because high-FAS lists ought to share more semantic features with critical unpresented words than should low-FAS lists. The authors show that this null result is probably a truncated range artifact. When FAS and its complement, backward associative strength (BAS), were independently manipulated in factorial designs, they both affected illusion strength. Moreover, their effects did not interact and were of comparable magnitude. Conjoint-recognition analyses were used to pinpoint the influence of BAS and FAS on retrieval processes that support or suppress false-memory responses. Although the variables affected both types of processes, their effects on suppressive processes were larger and more consistent. This research also provided the first clear evidence that subjects often use suppressive processes inappropriately to reject studied items that preserve the gist of experience.