Özkılıç, Y. & Tekman, H. G.
Psychology/Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey.
Signal Detection Theory parameters of false memory phenomena in DRM (Deese-Roediger-McDermott) word lists and category lists were examined. Typically, both types of word lists generated false memories; however, using DRM lists generates more of them. Participants studied lists composed of 15 words related to one critical word. In addition, they studied two unrelated word lists that were not related to either critical or related words. Bias, sensitivity and recollection values were calculated for the critical, related and unrelated words. Subjects rated their confidence that they had studied each word on a six-point scale in a recognition test. The results showed that bias, sensitivity and recollection parameters did not differ between the two kinds of lists. Only the bias values differed among the word types: Subjects indicated greater confidence that they had studied the critical words compared to the other types of word. This result suggests that participants did not experience false recollection for the critical words or had more difficulty distinguishing studied from nonstudied critical words but they used a more liberal criterion for these kinds of words at the test phase.