Affiliations: Neuro-Cognitive Psychology, Department Psychology,
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany | Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychophysiology,
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München,
Germany
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Kristina Fast, Department of
Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychophysiology, Section of
Neurocognition, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Nußbaumstr. 7, D-
80336 München. Tel.: +49 89 5160 5565; Fax: +49 89 5160 5562; E-mail:
kristina.fast@med.uni-muenchen.de
Abstract: This study used the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm [34] to
investigate the direction and the extent to which emotional valence in semantic
word lists influences the formation of false memories (FM). The experimental
paradigm consisted of 1) a study phase (learning of neutral and negative lists
of words semantically associated to a non-presented critical lure (CL), 2) a
free recall phase, and 3) a recognition phase. Participants had to indicate
whether the displayed item was "new" (new item or non-studied CL) or "old"
(studied list item). CL associated with negative word lists elicited
significantly more FM than CL associated with neutral word lists. This finding
is in contrast to previous work showing that emotional words elicit fewer FM
than neutral words. The results of our study also suggest that valence is
capable of influencing emotional memory in terms of encoding and retrieval
processes.
