With Sadness Comes Accuracy; With Happiness, False Memory

TLDR

The Deese‑Roediger‑McDermott paradigm demonstrates that people generate false memories, and the affect‑as‑information hypothesis predicts that positive affect enhances relational encoding and false memories while negative affect promotes item‑specific encoding and reduces them. Two experiments examined whether induced positive or negative moods would influence this false memory effect. Experiment 2 used inclusion instructions to test whether mood effects occur during encoding or retrieval. Experiment 1 showed that negative moods reduced false memory rates compared to positive or neutral moods, and Experiment 2 replicated this effect, indicating that moods influence lure accessibility at encoding rather than retrieval monitoring.

Abstract

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm lures people to produce false memories. Two experiments examined whether induced positive or negative moods would influence this false memory effect. The affect-as-information hypothesis predicts that, on the one hand, positive affective cues experienced as task-relevant feedback encourage relational processing during encoding, which should enhance false memory effects. On the other hand, negative affective cues are hypothesized to encourage item-specific processing at encoding, which should discourage such effects. The results of Experiment 1 are consistent with these predictions: Individuals in negative moods were significantly less likely to show false memory effects than those in positive moods or those whose mood was not manipulated. Experiment 2 introduced inclusion instructions to investigate whether moods had their effects at encoding or retrieval. The results replicated the false memory finding of Experiment 1 and provide evidence that moods influence the accessibility of lures at encoding, rather than influencing monitoring at retrieval of whether lures were actually presented.