The cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying false memory: An information processing perspective

Abstract: By reviewing both behavioral and neuroimaging research, the present article illustrates how processing of information from different sources (i.e., the target event/stimulus, internal cognitive schemas, and external interference) and at different stages (i.e., the encoding, storage, re-activation/reconsolidation and retrieval stages) contributes to false memory. We conclude that false memory may arise from three mechanisms: (1) The lack of distinctive item-specific memory representations that makes it difficult to distinguish targets from related lures; (2) The engagement of cognitive schemas strengthens the memory representations of non-target information (including related lures) in the schemas; and (3) Re-activated memory representations of targets are distorted and modified by external interference. Future research may use updated approaches, e.g., multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA), to further investigate the brain regions responsible for representing item-specific details, the way different types of schema (e.g., event-based script) promote the representations of related lures, and the way re-activation of schema during memory retrieval influences false memory.