Cohesion failure as a source of memory illusions

One source of ''false'' memories may be that often only memory fragments are retained. This would then result in a person being unable to distinguish a false conjunction, constructed of memory components, from what had been actually experienced. Experiment 1, employing two-syllable words in a continuous recognition paradigm, found that patients with left hippocampal damage classified more new verbal conjunctions as ''old'' than did normal subjects or patients with only right hippocampal damage. Experiment 2, employing simple face drawings in a study-test paradigm, found that patients with damage to either side of their hippocampal formation made more conjunction errors with pictorial stimuli than did normal subjects. The results are seen as supporting the hypothesis that binding is an important early step in the consolidation process and that the hippocampal system is a critical component of the neural system involved in the appropriate binding of memory components. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.