Table 4.
Studies implanting ‘Corroborated’ false childhood memories of entirely new events in adults
| Authors | Participants | False childhood event (additional relevant B/S conditions) | Imagery instruction | % with any false recollective experiencea | % with false memories partially meeting full criteria | % with full false memories | Mean self‐report recollection/belief ratings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loftus and Pickrell (1995) | 24 adults (age 18–53 years) | Lost in mall | No | 25% | |||
| Hyman et al. (1995) Study 1 | 20 college students | 1 selected from birthday with pizza/clown; hospital overnight stay | No | 20% | |||
| Hyman et al. (1995) Study 2 | 51 college students | 1 selected from spilt punchbowl at wedding; fire sprinkler in shop; left in car | No | 26% | 12% | ||
| Hyman and Pentland (1996) | 65 college students | spilt punchbowl at wedding (think about event versus guided imagery) | Yes (1 condition) | 12% think 36% imagine | 9% think 25% imagine | Memory confidence (1–7) rangeb 4.00–3.00 some recall 1.32–1.10 no recall | |
| Pezdek et al. (1997) Study 1 | 51 college students | Religious event (plausible versus implausible event) | No | 6% implausible 22% plausible | |||
| Pezdek et al. (1997) Study 2 | 20 teens and young adults | Lost in mall; received enema | No | 0% enema 15% mall | |||
| Hyman and Billings (1998) | 66 college students | Spilt punchbowl at wedding | Yes | 27% | 15% | Memory confidence (1–5) 2.60 clear – 2.25 partial – 1.40 no recall | |
| Porter et al. (1999) | 77 college students | 1 selected from lost; harmed; attacked; serious accident; serious medical procedure | Yes | 56% | 26% | ||
| Heaps and Nash (2001) | 63 college students | 1 selected from LEIc items | Yes | 37% | |||
| Wade et al. (2002) | 20 college students | Hot air balloon ride with doctored photo | Yes | 50% | 20% | Belief in event [1 (0%) – 7 (100%)] 67% clear – 25% partial – 0% no recall | |
| Lindsay et al. (2004) | 45 college students | Put Slime in teacher's desk (sight versus no sight of school class photo) | Yes | 46% no photo | 23% no photo | Memory extent (1–7) 1.91 no photo 2.83 photo Belief in event (1–7) 2.36 no photo 3.59 photo | |
| 78% photo | 65% photo | ||||||
| Garry and Wade (2005) | 44 young adults | Hot air balloon ride (false narrative versus doctored photo) | Yes | 50% photo 82% narrative | 29% photod 41% narratived | Know – remember (1–7) 1.36 photo 1.64 narrative Memory confidence (1–7) 2.14 photo 2.32 narrative | |
| Ost et al. (2005) | 31 college students | 1 selected from hospital; lost; eventful holiday or birthday; wedding; contest; serious accident to other | No | 23% | 3% | Memory confidence (1–7) 2.87 | |
| French et al. (2006) | 58 young adults | Hot air balloon ride False narratives /doctored photos alternated | No | 24% | 5% | ||
| Desjardins and Scoboria (2007) | 44 college students | Put Slime in teacher's desk (presence versus absence of (i) specific and (ii) self‐relevant details in false memory narrative) | Yes | 68% self‐relevant 36% no self‐relevant | 30% rangeb, d 55–9% | Memory extent (1–8) rangeb 2.82–1.27 Belief in event (1–8) rangeb 5.18–3.36 | |
| Qin et al. (2008) Study 1 | 33 college students | 1 selected from birthday at McDonalds; hospital for injury | Yes (1 condition) | 26% rangeb, e 36–16% | 10% rangeb, e 14–7% | ||
| 86 adults | (Think about versus visualise event; false memory warning versus no warning) | ||||||
| Strange et al. (2008) | 105 young adults | Hot air balloon ride (event at age 2 years versus age 10 years) | No | 38% age 2 years 19% age 10 years | 13% age 2 years 7% age 10 years | Know – remember (1–7) 2.10 age 2 years, 2.20 age 10 years | |
| Wade et al. (2010) | 53 young adults | Hot air balloon ride with doctored photo (Photo first versus narrative first) | Yes | 41% photo firstd | 10% photo firstd | ||
| 67% narrative firstd | 23% narrative firstd | ||||||
| Short and Bodner (2011) | 34 college students | 1 selected from ‘plausible’ false event that was another subject's true event | Yes | 41% | 21% | ||
| Hessen‐Kayfitz and Scoboria (2012) | 82 college students | Hot air balloon ride with doctored photo (presence versus absence of (i) self‐relevant and (ii) familiar details in photo) | Yes | 34% rangeb 47–24% | 13% rangeb 19–5% | Know – remember (1–7) range 1.74–1.15 Memory confidence (1–7) rangeb 2.17–1.10 | |
| Otgaar et al. (2013) Study 1 | 89 college students | Hot air balloon ride | Yes | 36% | (% of participants) Recollection 20% Belief 20% | ||
| Shaw and Porter (2015) | 60 college students | 1 selected from 3 criminal acts or 3 non‐criminal events | Yes | 93% | 73% rangeb 77–70% | Memory confidence (1–7) rangeb 2.86–1 |
Cells left blank where relevant data not reported.
a
Potentially includes clear memories, partial/vague/uncertain memories and speculations, images without memories.
b
Means or percentages vary according to condition.
c
LEI = Life Events Inventory, Garry et al., 1996.
d
Estimated from published figures.
e
Author communication.