Explaining complementarity in false memory

Publication date: June 2020Source: Journal of Memory and Language, Volume 112Author(s): C.J. Brainerd, K. Nakamura, Y.A. MurtazaAbstractComplementarity is a paradoxical phenomenon in which memory for incompatible reality states (e.g., old vs. new) violates basic logical constraints: Subjects remember certain groups of items as belonging to both of two incompatible states at reliable levels. The theoretical principle that predicts this phenomenon, non-compensatory gist memory, also predicts a more stringent form in which individual items are successively remembered as belonging to each of two incompatible states. In the present experiments, we investigated this within-item form of complementarity and evaluated an alternative theoretical explanation that relies on a selective retrieval principle. The experiments provided evidence of robust within-item complementarity, for both old items and new items that were semantically related to old ones. Logical incompatibility constrained memory for different reality states to only a limited degree. Our experiments provided no support for the selective retrieval explanation of complementarity. That account predicts several effects, some for judgment probabilities and others for latencies, none of which was observed. Thus, non-compensatory gist memory proved to be the more satisfactory of the two explanations.

Source: Journal of Memory and Language - February 10, 2020 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research