| Abstract: | Previous studies have found that memory can be altered by leading questions that presuppose information inconsistent with originally presented memory materials. This phenomenon was examined to determine if memory disruption was due to the alteration of original memory by new inconsistent information. Also examined was the variation in this effect with the centrality of target materials. 48 undergraduates read high- and low-importance sentence targets embedded in texts, recalled the texts, were questioned about the materials, and later participated in a recognition task. Presented questions contained presuppositions that were consistent, inconsistent, or neutral with regard to targets. Recognition items were original targets, and foils were congruent with inconsistent question presuppositions. Inconsistent presuppositions did not produce significantly lower target hits than neutral presuppositions, but they did increase foil false alarms relative to neutrals, suggesting that both original and inconsistent new material coexisted in memory at recognition. Recognition results did not vary with the importance of the target material. False alarm rates following inconsistent presuppositions were higher among Ss who had previously failed to recall target information than for Ss recalling targets. This suggested that Ss may tag inconsistent information as false if original traces are retrievable at question time. (French abstract) (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
