How culture shapes constructive false memory.

Abstract

Culture plays a critical role in memory. Memory is also known to be constructive and prone to errors (e.g., false memories). However, little is known about how culture potentially shapes the formation of false memories. We examined the role of culture in shaping various aspects of false memory by comparing European (N = 33) and Chinese (N = 40) samples. In our study, we embedded the Deese-Roediger/McDermott (DRM) pictures in different contexts and paired them with participants' own name or other people's name (e.g., Adele) to create item-personcontext memory episodes. We found that European participants had more phantom recollection for non-presented lure pictures while Chinese participants were more likely to form familiarity for lure pictures. Furthermore, we showed that European participants formed more self-related false memories of item-context bindings than Chinese participants. Our study is the first to show cultural differences in constructive false memories using the DRM paradigm.

What does cultural research tell us about memory?

“…Memory reconstruction results in false memories that reflect variations in perceptual processes (Nisbett & Miyamoto, 2004) and self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) across cultural communities (J. Wang et al, 2021). Culture-specific tendencies in information processing and cultural identities further influence the memory accessibility of episodic details (Leger & Gutchess, 2021) and semantic information (Stanley et al, 2021).…”

“…The studies in the special issue demonstrate the important role of culture in influencing a broad range of memory processes, constructs, and phenomena. The topics range from the own-race memory bias in facial recognition (Leffers & Coley, 2021; Marsh, 2021) to false memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm (J. Wang, Otgaar, Santtila, Shen, & Zhou, 2021); from episodic memory specificity (Leger & Gutchess, 2021) to semantic memory for facts (Stanley, Taylor, & Marsh, 2021); from vicarious memories and intergenerational narratives (Chen, Cullen, Fivush, Wang, & Reese, 2021) to the functions (Wasti, Aydin, Altunsu, & Beyhan, 2021), characteristics (Alea, Ali, & Ali, 2021), and lifespan retrieval of autobiographical memory (Bohn & Bundgaard-Nielsen, 2021); and from collaborative remembering in group settings (Pepe, Wang, & Rajaram, 2021) to living historical memory (Liu et al, 2021) and collective memory (Choi, Abel, Siqi-Liu, & Umanath, 2021).…”

“…Thus, the own-race memory bias in facial recognition is associated with essentialist beliefs about racial groups (Leffers & Coley, 2021) and is influenced by individuals’ cultural identities (Marsh, 2021). Memory reconstruction results in false memories that reflect variations in perceptual processes (Nisbett & Miyamoto, 2004) and self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) across cultural communities (J. Wang et al, 2021).…”

“…At the dyadic level, socialization agents play important roles in cultural learning and cultural transmission, such that memories for parents’ experiences are linked to adolescents’ well-being across cultures (Chen et al, 2021), and grandmothers’ active involvement in community and family lives shapes the structure of cultural life scrips and autobiographical memories (Bohn & Bundgaard-Nielsen, 2021). At the group level, racial essentialism goes hand-in-hand with bias in facial recognition memory (Leffers & Coley, 2021), memory accessibility and accuracy reflect distinct cultural values and perceptual styles (Leger & Gutchess, 2021; J. Wang et al, 2021), and living historical memory is tied to national identity particularly in developing countries (Liu et al, 2021).…”

“…The studies in the special issue draw samples around the world, in diverse cultural communities, including adults from the Nunggubuyu indigenous community in Australia’s Northern Territory (Bohn & Bundgaard-Nielsen, 2021), and from Singapore, Turkey, China, the Netherlands, Germany, and the US (Choi et al, 2021; J. Wang et al, 2021; Stanley et al, 2021; Wasti et al, 2021).…”