Normative data for Italian Deese/Roediger-McDermott lists

Behav Res Methods. 2016 Mar;48(1):381-9. doi: 10.3758/s13428-015-0582-3.

Abstract

The present study provides norms for Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists that were used to create false memories in native speakers of Italian. The word lists reported in this article are based on the DRM lists that have been used extensively to examine illusory memories in English speakers (Deese in Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 17-22, 1959; Roediger & McDermott in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 21, 803-814, 1995). We translated the 24 critical lures from 24 English DRM lists and created semantically associated Italian word lists that were then normed with native Italian speakers. Overall, the participants recalled 63% of the list items and 22% of the critical lures with the word lists developed. In addition, 56% of the list items and 82% of the critical lures were recognized by the participants. The present study provides a set of Italian lists that can be used by researchers interested in evaluating false memories in Italian-speaking participants.

Keywords: DRM paradigm; False memories; Italian; Recall; Recognition.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Association*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Language*
  • Male
  • Memory*
  • Mental Recall
  • Reference Values
  • Repression, Psychology
  • Semantics
  • Young Adult