Abstract
Subjects listened to and imagined words and then attempted to discriminate words they had heard from words they had imagined. Discrimination was better when subjects imagined themselves saying the words (Experiments 1 and 2) than when subjects imagined the words in the speaker’s voice. Subjects also had more difficulty discriminating imagined from perceived words when they imagined in the speaker’s voice than when they imagined words in a voice other than their own or the speaker’s (Experiment 1). The results are consistent with the idea that reality monitoring is affected by the degree of similarity in sensory characteristics of memories derived from perception and from imagination (Johnson & Raye, 1981).
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Alba, J. W., &Hasher, L. (1983). Is memory schematic?Psychological Bulletin,93, 203–231.
Anderson, J. R. (1983). A spreading activation theory of memoryJournal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,22, 262–295
Anderson, R. (1984). Did I do it or did 1 imagine doing it?Journal of Experimental Psychology General,113, 549–615
Craik, F. I. M., &Kirsner, K. (1974). The effect of a speaker’s voice on word recognition.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,26, 274–284.
Finke, R. A., Johnson, M. K, &Shyi, G. C.W. (1988). Memory confusions for real and imagined completions of symmetrical visual patterns.Memory & Cognition,16, 133–137.
Flavell, J. H., Flavell, E. R., &Green, F. L. (1983). Development of the appearance-reality distinctionCognitive Psychology,15, 95–120.
Foley, M. A., &JohnsOn, M. K. (1985). Confusions between memories for performed and imagined actions A developmental comparisonChild Development,56, 1145–1155.
Foley, M. A,Johnson, M. K., &Rave, C. L. (1983). Age related changes in confusion between memories for thoughts and memories for speech.Child Development,54, 51–60
Geiselman, R. E., &Glenny, J. (1977). Effects of imagining spewers’ voices on the retention of words presented visually.Memory & Cognition,5, 499–504.
Harvey, P. D. (1985). Reality monitoring m mania and schizophrenia.The Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease,173, 67–73.
Jacoby, L. L, &Brooks, L. R. (1984) Nonanalytic cognition. Memory, perception, and concept learning. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 18, pp. 1–47). New York: Academic Press.
Jacoby, L. L., &Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,110, 306–340.
Johnson, M. K. (1983). A multiple entry, modular memory system. In G H Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 17, pp. 81–123) New York: Academic Press.
Johnson, M. K. (1988). Discriminating the origin of information. In T. R. Oltmanns & B. A. Maher (Eds),Delusional beliefs Theoretical and empirical perspectives. New York: Wiley.
Johnson, M. K., &Raye, C. L. (1981). Reality monitoring.Psychological Review,88, 67–85.
Johnson, M. K., Rave, C. L., Foley, H. J., &Foley, M. A. (1981). Cognitive operations and decison bias in reality monitoring.American Journal of Psychology,94, 37–64.
Johnson, M. K., Rave, C. L., Foley, M. A., &Kim, J. K. (1982). Pictures and images: Spatial and temporal information compared.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,19, 23–26.
Johnson, M. K., Raye, C. L., Wang, A. Y., &Taylor, T H. (1979). Fact and fantasy: The roles of accuracy and variability in confusing imaginations with perceptual experiences.Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Learning & Memory,5, 229–240.
Kolers, P. A. (1975). Specificity of operations in sentence recognitionCognitive Psychology,7, 289–306.
Kolers, P. A., &OStry, D. J. (1974). Time course of loss of information regarding pattern analyzing operationsJournal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,13, 599–612.
Kolers, P. A., &Roediger, H. L., III. (1984) Procedures of mind.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,23, 425–449.
Light, L. L., &Berger, D. E. (1976). Are there long-term “literal copies” of visually presented words?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning & Memory,2, 654–662.
Lindsay, D. S., &Johnson, M. K. (1987). Reality monitoring and suggestibility. Children’s ability to discriminate among memories from different sources. In S. J. Ceci, M. P. Toglia, & D. F. Ross (Eds.),Children’s eyewitness memory (pp. 92–121) New York: Springer-Verlag
Loftus, E. F., Miller, D. G., &Burns, H. J. (1978). Semantic integraton of verbal reformation into a visual memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning & Memory,4, 19–31.
Rave, C. L., &Johnson, M. K. (1980) Reality monitoring vs. discriminating between external sources of memories.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,15, 405–408
West, M. P. (1953).A general service list of English words (rev ed.). New York: Longmans.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Preparation of this article was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH 37222, and in part by National Science Foundation Grant BNS-8510633.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, M.K., Foley, M.A. & Leach, K. The consequences for memory of imagining in another person’s voice. Memory & Cognition 16, 337–342 (1988). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197044
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197044