Semantic and episodic processes involved in false memory production a study with the DRM task

Memory and identity are strongly connected; indeed, we need to remember both information about other people and the world around us, and our own story to even just describe ourselves. The idea of memory as a retention system is one of the most studied topics in cognitive research, nevertheless this conception presents wide limits, that can be also underlined by memory distortions. In this case we explored memory errors that are relative to those events that are confidently remembered, but never took place: false memories. In order to do that, we employed the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (DRM), which is one of the most used and useful tasks to measure the false memory production. We investigated DRM effects with an individual differences approach, to better explore memory abilities that contribute to false memory; specifically episodic memory abilities, which correlated with lower production of false memories, and semantic memory abilities, which correlated with a larger number of false memories. Moreover, taking advantage of the mouse-tracking technique, we explored implicit components of decision-making connected to the DRM task, that could not be otherwise observed with explicit measurements, linking them to participants’ mouse movements. Our findings testify that the DRM effects are connected with mouse trajectories, which reflect conflict during the recognition phase, and its evolution in larger deviation and movement uncertainty, specifically linked critical lures. Finally, we highlight both the limits and the impact of these findings in the context of today’s memory research field and suggested future perspectives.