Social contagion of memory

摘要: We report a new paradigm for studying false memories implanted by social influence, process we call the contagion of memory. A subject and confederate together saw six common household scenes (e.g., kitchen) containing many objects, either 15 or 60 sec. During collaborative recall test, 2 subjects each recalled items from scenes, but occasionally made mistakes reporting not scene. Some intrusions were highly consistent with scene schema toaster) while others less so oven mitts). After brief delay, individual tried to as possible scenes. Recall erroneous suggested was greater than in control condition (with no suggestion). Further, this effect when presented time (15 sec) intruded item more toaster). As other forms are contagious; one person’s memory can be infected another errors.