Effect of divided attention on the production of false memories in the DRM paradigm : a study of dichotic listening and shadowing

The Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm comprises the study of
lists in which words (e.g., bed, pillow, etc.) are all associates of a single
nonstudied critical item (e.g., sleep). The probability of falsely recalling or
recognising nonstudied critical items is often similar to (or sometimes higher
than) the probability of correctly recalling or recognising studied associates.
False memories produced throughout this paradigm are usually seen as
vivid, long lasting, and difficult to consciously avoid. Our experiment aimed
to analyse the effect of dichotic listening and shadowing procedures on the
production of false memories in the DRM paradigm. The results showed that
the production of false memories under a divided attention condition during
processing was not eliminated, independently of the type of memory task –
recall or recognition. Moreover, the proportion of false memories produced
in our study was similar to the amounts of correct recall and recognition in
both encoding conditions. Therefore, our study confirms the robustness of
this type of memory distortion (e.g., Gallo, Roediger, & McDermott, 2001),
because even when the encoding conditions are impoverished, participants
are prone to falsely remember the critical words, reinforcing the theoretical
assumption of the automatic activation of critical lures.