How are false memories distinguishable from true memories in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm? A review of the findings

This article reviewed the literature comparing true and false memories. Although false memory experience is typically characterized as compellingly similar to true memory experience, research also indicates many distinctions between these two types of memory. The primary focus of this article was on comparing these two types of memory in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm on a number of independent and dependent measures. Studies that compared true and false memories in recall and recognition rates over retention intervals, as a function of list word presentation duration, list presentation repetition, in recall and recognition latencies, output serial position, phenomenological experiences (conscious and unconscious discrimination between these two types of memories), and neurophysiological processes were reviewed. The conclusion is that the degree to which false memory is experienced and observed as similar to or the same as true memory is a function of a number of variables in the process of acquiring and measuring the memory.