Recollection rejection of false narrative statements

Our research was focused on a false-memory editing operation that is posited in fuzzy-trace theory* recollection rejection. The main objectives were (a) to extend model-based measurement of this operation to a narrative task that ought to ensure high levels of recollection rejection and (b) to study five manipulations that ought to influence recollection rejection by affecting the accessibility of verbatim traces of narrative statements: recency of narrative presentation, narrative repetition, type of false-memory item, testing delay, and repeated testing. The results showed that the narrative task did indeed yield high levels of recollection, with an estimated 49% of gist-consistent distractors being rejected in this way on initial memory tests. Consistent with current theoretical conceptions of false-memory editing, the results also showed that recollection rejection increased as a function of manipulations that should enhance the accessibility of verbatim traces of narrative statements, with repeated testing delivering especially large increases in verbatim accessibility.