False Recognition Accompanied By Retrieval Of Encoding Context In The DRM Paradigm And Its Influencing Factors

False memory refers to remembering events that never happened.For instance,in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott(DRM)paradigm,after studying several words such as “snow”,“winter”,“ice”,and “warm”,participants falsely remember that the semantically related word “cold”(i.e.,the critical lure)was encountered in the encoding session,and the false memory rate for the critical lures is significantly higher than the false alarm rate for the semantically unrelated items.Failure of monitoring processes is argued to be responsible for the false memory.Consistent with this view,previous research has demonstrated that prewarning effectively reduces false memory.However,false memories remain robust,as the false memory rate for the critical lures remain well above the false alarm rate for the semantically unrelated items.These findings suggest that some false memories are robust and people are unable to distinguish them from authentic memories,possibly because these false memories are accompanied by retrieval of encoding context.Previous research has revealed that if semantic associates in the DRM paradigm are presented together with different kinds of contexts during encoding,then when the critical lures are judged as old,they are more likely attributed to the context that was presented together with its associates(i.e.,encoding context)compared to contexts that were presented together with items belonging to the other wordlists(i.e.,non-encoding context).These results suggest that some false memories are accompanied by retrieval of encoding context.While previous studies have demonstrated that some false memories are accompanied by retrieval of encoding context,it remains unclear whether false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context are based on the binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding.Furthermore,previous studies did not measure memory strength for the encoding context in false memory.Previous research on true memory reveals that the rating of memory strength for the encoding context indexes the amount/quality of retrieved contextual information.Consequently,to explore whether false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context are based on the binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding,the current study separated false memories into those with strong and weak encoding context memory.The investigation of whether false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context are based on the binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding could be inspired by previous research on true memory.Specifically,by using ERP technique,previous research on true memory has demonstrated that the late positive component is more positive for recognitions with strong encoding context memory compared to recognitions with weak encoding context memory.By using fMRI technique,previous research on true memory has revealed that several regions in the core recollection network,including the hippocampus,angular gyrus,and medial prefrontal cortex(mPFC),show greater activations for recognitions with strong encoding context memory compared to recognitions with weak encoding context memory.These findings suggest that late positive component and activations of the core recollection network are associated with binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding in true memory.To explore whether false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context are based on the binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding,the current study investigated the neural activity of false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context based on those findings on true memory.Specifically,by using ERP and fMRI techniques,the current study explored whether the late positive component was more positive and the core recollection network showed greater activations for false recognitions with strong encoding context memory compared to false recognitions with weak encoding context memory.The current study also explored whether false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context are based on the binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding by investigating their influencing factors.Previous research on true memory has demonstrated that divided attention during encoding has disruptive effects on the binding of item and encoding context.If false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context are based on the binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding,then divided attention during encoding should reduce them.Furthermore,if false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context are based on the binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding,they should be robust in the face of prewarning because of their vividness.Consequently,the current study explored whether and how divided attention and prewarning would influence false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context.Four studies were conducted to advance understanding of these questions.In Study 1,DRM Chinese wordlists were created to serve as experiment materials.In Study 2,scene pictures were chosen as encoding contexts to explore whether false memories could be accompanied by retrieval of scene encoding contexts,and to replicate the findings demonstrating that some false memories are accompanied by retrieval of encoding contexts.In Study 3,ERP(Experiment 3A)and FMRI(Experiment 3B)techniques were used to explore whether the late positive component is more positive and the core recollection network shows greater activations for false recognitions with strong encoding context memory compared to false recognitions with weak encoding context memory.Study 4 aimed at exploring whether and how divided attention(Experiment 4A)and prewarning(Experiment 4B)would influence false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context.Study 1 created 60 DRM Chinese wordlists to serve as experiment materials,with each wordlist including 6 semantic associates and 2 critical lures.Study 2 revealed that participants tended to attribute a critical lure to the context that was presented together with its associates(i.e.,encoding context)compared to the contexts that were presented together with items belonging to the other wordlists(i.e.,non-encoding context).These results suggest that some false memories are accompanied by retrieval of encoding contexts.Study 3 revealed that the late positive component was more positive and the core recollection network showed greater activations for false recognitions with strong encoding context memory compared to false recognitions with weak encoding context memory.Study 4 revealed that divided attention during encoding reduced the proportion of false recognitions with strong encoding context memory in false recognitions accompanied by retrieval of encoding context,while prewarning did not reduce the proportion of false recognitions with strong encoding context memory in false recognitions accompanied by retrieval of encoding context.This paper explored the neural activity of false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context,and how divided attention and prewarning would influence false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context.The results provided behavioral and neural evidence supporting that false memories accompanied by retrieval of encoding context are related to the binding of item and encoding context and retrieval of this binding.