The effects of memory encoding and levels of processing on false memories and memory confidence

The processes underlying the generation of false memories have received renewed interest over the last 15 years in cognitive psychology. Research has shown that false memories can be generated by the negative suggestion effect; an effect whereby exposure to incorrect information within examination questions causes people to later misremember the incorrect information as true. Memory confidence is implicated in the transfer of information from incorrect to correct. Eighty participants learned passages, took a multiple-choice test, completed a 5 minute filler task, and took a cued-recall task. A 2 x 2 x 3 mixed model MANOVA was used to see whether manipulations of encoding (i.e., verbatim vs. gist) and levels of processing (i.e., write vs. recall) would reduce the negative suggestion effect, increase memory accuracy, and increase accurate memory confidence. Results showed that verbatim encoding significantly increased memory accuracy regardless of the level of processing. No significant interactions were found between the independent variables and memory confidence. Discussion includes implications of these results and directions for future research.