Qualities of the unreal.

摘要: Witnesses to complex events often recall nonexistent objects after being exposed misleading postevent information. The present series of experiments investigated whether descriptions these "unreal" memories differ from those based on perception. In Experiment 1 subjects viewed a slide sequence depicting traffic accident. one condition, the included involving yield sign. second did not see sign but merely had its existence suggested. Many in both groups later reported seeing sign, and provided verbal descriptions. Descriptions that resulted suggestion were longer contained more hedges, reference cognitive operations, fewer sensory details. 2 replicated findings with different object. 3 judges' ability discriminate source perception suggestion. Although judges employed appropriate criteria, their performance was only slightly above chance. Experiments 4 5 revealed providing clues regarding differences between perceived suggested facilitated discrimination. results indicate subtle exist memories, people have minimal detect differences, instructions can improve ability.