Factors that determine false recall: A multiple regression analysis

In the Deese-Roediger-MeDermott (DRM) paradigm, subjects study lists of wor ds that are designed to elicit the recall of an associatively related criti cal item. The 55 lists we have developed provide levels of false recall ran ging from .01 to .65, and understanding this variability should provide a k ey to understanding this memory illusion. Using a simultaneous multiple reg ression analysis, we assessed the contribution of seven factors in creating false recall of critical items in the DRM paradigm. This analysis accounte d for approximately 68% of the variance in false recall, with two main pred ictors: associative connections from the study words to the critical item ( r = +.73; semipartial r = +.60) and recallability of the lists (r = -.43; s emipartial r = -.34). Taken together, the variance in false recall captured by these predictors accounted for 84% of the variance that can be explaine d, given the reliability of the false recall measures (r = .90). Therefore, the results of this analysis strongly constrain theories of false memory i n this paradigm, suggesting that at least two factors determine the propens ity of DRM lists to elicit false recall. The results fit well within the th eoretical framework postulating that both semantic activation of the critic al item and strategic monitoring processes influence the probability of fal se recall and false recognition in this paradigm.