Emotional modulation of false memory across recall and recognition using the DRM paradigm

Abstract People frequently go through emotionally draining or upsetting experiences in daily life, which are stored and later remembered under similar emotional conditions. Thus, while emotion is unavoidable in daily life, its impact is likely to be increased, with serious repercussions, in certain situations. Recent studies indicate that emotional false memories depend on the type of retrieval test used. When recall and recognition are given to the same participants, responses on one test may carry over to the other, potentially confounding the results. The main objective of this study is to investigate design- dependent effects on false memory by comparing the two retrieval strategies, recall and recognition, using emotional DRM lists. The findings indicated that false memories in the recognition test were greater than the recall test. Additionally, negative emotional words resulted in more false memories than positive or neutral words. These findings show that these effects are robust across retrieval designs.