The aim of this study was to define the processes underlying false recognition memory for orthographically related words by using the simplified conjoint recognition paradigm (Stahl & Klauer, 2009), which is grounded in the fuzzy trace theory. We considered 2 accounts. The first assumes that false memory stems from the perceptual feature overlap between targets and distractors represented in the gist memory parameter. The second account assumes that false memory for orthographically related distractors results from the misattribution of verbatim information, which is reflected in the phantom recollection parameter. Data from two experiments were analyzed with multinomial processing tree modeling to estimate the contribution of latent processes to performance in recognition memory tests. These analyses supported the feature overlap account, suggesting that gist trace encodes both semantic and orthographic patterns. We also showed that a boost in false memories due to the adding of semantic associates to a list of orthographically related words stems from an increase in phantom recollection. We discussed further directions in theoretical and empirical research on the gist and verbatim traces’ contribution to false recognition of perceptually related stimuli.

We examined the role of context memory for false recognition of critical lures and for illusory recollection of context in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm. In order to manipulate context (colour) memory, we asked the participants to read vs. generate items during the study and we presented items from one list using blocked-or mixed-colour formats. Both manipulations confirmed its influence on colour identification. Using signal detection analyses, we estimated memory sensitivity and response bias parameters, assuming that the former reflects encodingmechanism influences, whereas the latter reflects retrieval-based mechanism effects. Our results showed no evidence for diagnostic monitoring, that is, the participants did not use failure of colour recollection as a retrieval strategy for lures rejection. However, we also showed that in the blockedcolour condition, the better memory for targets colours was related to a better gist memory and a stronger proneness to attribute the list-colour to corresponding critical lures. We interpret these results as indicating that participants "misbind" contextual details to activated critical lures at encoding and/or "borrow" these details at retrieval to corroborate the strong familiarity of critical lures.

Previous research has demonstrated that context memory performance decreases as a result of cognitive load. However, the role of specific executive resources availability has not been specified yet. In a dual-task experiment, participants performed three kinds of concurrent task engaging: inhibition, updating, or shifting operations. In comparison with a no-load single-task condition, a significant decrease in item and context memory was observed, regardless of the kind of executive task. When executive load conditions were compared with non-specific cognitive load conditions, a significant interference effect was observed in the case of the inhibition task. The inhibition process appears to be an aspect of executive control, which relies on the same resource as item-context binding does, especially when binding refers to associations retrieved from long-term memory.