On False Memories : Cognitive Illusions

1. On False Memories: Cognitive Illusions Brian Bruce Runqiu Cai Brian DeAngelis Jason Kimmel Phoebe Kuo Neil Parikh Soha Shah Nathaniel Stornetta Adam Tourgee Julia Xu Sean Yeager Alex Young

2. Memory • Intrinsic and essential element of human life • Imperfect • Errors of omission • Errors of comission (false memory)

3. Deese (1959) • Word List • Thimble, haystack, pointy, sharp, thread, pin, eye, sewing, prick • Key word needle unmentioned, but subjects falsely recalled it

4. Roediger, Meade Bergman (2001) • Confederate social influence • “Social Contagion” • Remembered items in a scene which weren’t there

5. Big Five • Social/Reserved • Limbic/Calm • Organized/Unstructured • Accommodating/Egotistical • Non-curious/Inquisitive

6. Ward and Loftus (1985) • Eyewitness accounts • Introverted subjects more susceptible to misinformation

7. QUESTION: What is the effect of extroversion on the susceptibility to false memory with a factor of social influence from a confederate in a group setting?

8. HYPOTHESIS: The degree of social contagion will be greater among introverts than among groups composed of extroverts

9. Methods (Design) • False Memory Susceptibility • Introvert vs. Extrovert • Mixed Group vs. Like-Minded Group

10. Methods (Participants) • 67 Governor’s School Students • Six Groups • Two Introvert Groups • Two Extrovert Groups • Two Mixed (Controls)

11. Methods (Procedure) • Distribute personality tests • Make groups • Instruct Confederates • Experiment

12. Methods (Procedure) • Chronology of Experiment: • Consent form • Magic trick • 2-minute filler test • 8-minute discussion • 5-minute filler test • 5-minute memory implantation test • De-briefing

13. Discussion Sessions

14. The Results • Personality Test Average Personality Type: S C O X I Social – Calm – Organized – X - Inquisitive

15. The Results • Range • Very diverse group, ranged from Low (7) to High (35)

16. The Results • Reasoning Tests • Overall, Governor’s School students scored significantly higher

17. Results and Speculations • We got social contagion! • 28% of the implanted items were falsely remembered • 62% had at least one false memory • No difference between extroverts and introverts (contrary to Ward and Loftus)

18. The mixed groups were much less susceptible to false memory implantation than the like-minded groups.

19. Limitations and Qualifications • Gov. School students • Slanted SLOAN tests • Random chance/uncontrollable variables

20. The Future • Further applications • Future research

21. Acknowledgements Docta DEE, Ph.D. (Professa P-Diddy) Paul Quinn (Superman) Jen Sissman Dr. MIYAMOTO-SAN Doc Surace (Uncle Loser) Test Participants (except those who forgot to show up) Thank you for all your help!

22. Thank You

23. Rollin’ with Dolan: Cognitive Illusions Brian Bruce Runqiu Cai Brian DeAngelis Jason Kimmel Phoebe Kuo Neil Parikh Soha Shah Nathaniel Stornetta Adam Tourgee Julia Xu Sean Yeager Alex Young

25. The Results • Linda Reasoning Test Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken and very bright. At university she studied philosophy. As a student she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice and also participated in anti-war demonstrations. ___ Linda is a bank teller ___ Linda is active in the feminist movement ___ Linda is active in the feminist movement and is a bank teller

26. The Results • Linda Reasoning Test The Right Answer Why?

27. The Results • Linda Reasoning Test On average, less than 15% of people get this question right when tested in large groups. 42% of the 67 students tested got this question right!

28. The Results • Chain Test

29. The Results • Chain Test IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE! ~Unlink all of the chains in any line and use them as connectors to link the rest! To unhook the 3 = $.06 and to link them back, $.09 = $.15

30. The Results • Chain Test ~Governor’s School students did much better! ~9% of students got it correctly in just 5 minutes In a study, people were given 30 minutes to answer it and just ~50% got it right!