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  • Title: Can False Memories Prime Problem Solutions for Healthy Older Adults and Those With Alzheimer's Disease?
    Author: Akhtar S, Howe ML, Hoepstine K.
    Journal: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci; 2020 Mar 09; 75(4):743-752. PubMed ID: 29873791.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: Recent research has shown that false memories can have a positive consequence on human cognition in both children and young adults. The present experiment investigated whether false memories could have similar positive effects by priming solutions to insight-based problems in healthy older adults and people with Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHOD: Participants were asked to solve compound remote associate task (CRAT) problems, half of which had been preceded by the presentation of Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists whose critical lures (CL) were also the solutions to those problems. RESULTS: The results showed that regardless of cognitive ability, when the CL was falsely recognized, CRAT problems were solved more often and reliably faster than problems that were not primed by a DRM list. When the CL was not falsely recognized, CRAT problem solution rates and times were no different from when there was no DRM priming. DISCUSSION: These findings are consistent with predictions from theories of associative activation and demonstrate the importance of automatic spreading activation processes in memory across the life span.
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