False Memories Practice Questions Answer Key
1. Loftus and Pickrell (false memories) used a repeated measures design to compare recall of true and false events.
(a) Describe what is meant by a ‘repeated measures design’. [2]
 The experimental design/how participants are allocated to conditions such that all participants do all
conditions/levels of the IV
 1 mark partial (brief description), 2 marks full (expanded description, could be contextualised e.g. IV is
true/false) e.g. Each participant does every part/condition of the experiment = 1 mark
 Each participant does every level/condition of the IV = 2 marks
 N.B. No marks for ‘every participant does the same’ type answers, this is about (standardisation of)
procedure, so is irrelevant.
(b) Describe the results for the number of words that were used to recall true and false memories. [2]
 mean number of words used: True: 138 False: 49.9
 1 mark partial (‘true more words (than false)’/one figure correct), 2 marks full (both figures approximately
correct)
 e.g. One subject used 349 words in the true but 90 in the false = 2 marks
 Most stories were longer for true but one participant used 20 words for true, 21 for false = 2 marks
 About three times as many for true as false = 2 marks
2. In the study by Loftus and Pickrell, they gave an example of the false event presented to one participant, a 20year-old Vietnamese-American woman. Describe this false event. [4]
 4 marks, 1 per each accurate piece of information. e.g. lost in mall; age 5; crying;
elderly/Chinese/woman;
 it was a story about going to K-Mart = 1 mark
 in a shopping mall = 1 mark
 reunited with family = 0 marks
 it was about being 5 and going to a store, with mum and siblings, getting lost going to get an ice cream,
and being found by an old lady (4 marks)
 lost = 0 marks
3. In the study by Loftus and Pickrell (false memories) the participants were sent a booklet. Describe this booklet
and what the participants were required to do with it. [4]
 1 mark per detail described × 4
 Participants given booklet containing stories about the participant’s childhood (1 mark)
 The booklet contained 3 true stories about the participant’s childhood and one false one (2 marks)
 5 page booklet, with true and false stories, the latter always third, the participants filled in the details they
remembered about each one (4 marks)
4. Loftus and Pickrell studied false memories.
(a) Describe the aim of the study. [2]
 To find out whether it is possible to implant (an entire) false memory for something that never
happened.
 1 mark partial, 2 marks full (expansion: e.g. any two of the underlined points)
(b) Describe one piece of evidence which supports the aim. [2]
 29% (7/24 participants) ‘remembered’ the false shopping mall memory (or 6/24, 25% after first
interview).
False Memories Practice Questions Answer Key

1 mark partial, 2 marks full (expansion likely to be data)
5. From the study by Loftus and Pickrell (false memories):
(a) Describe how the sample was obtained. [2]
 Opportunity sampling
 “They were recruited by University of Washington students; each student provided a pair of
individuals, which included both a subject and the subject’s relative”.
 1 mark partial, 2 marks full (problem identified by term, plus some detail, or good detail)
 Does not need to relate to L&P for 2 marks
(b) Explain one disadvantage of sampling in this way. [2]
Most likely:



Sample bias: All the participants will have known a Washington University student, so may have other
important characteristics in common making them less representative or gender bias because more males
(and findings may not generalise to females)
Demand characteristics: All the participants will have known a psychology student, this might have made
them more suspicious about the experiment.
1 mark partial, 2 marks full (problem identified by term, plus some detail, or good detail)
6. From the study by Loftus and Pickrell (false memories):
(a) Describe the results for the recall and clarity of true events. [2]
 49/72 = 68% events recalled
 Mean clarity rating 6.3
 1 mark for recall, 1 mark for clarity
 ‘both higher for true than false’ (1 mark)
(b) Describe the results for the recall and clarity of false events. [2]
 Accept either interview 1 or 2 data
 7/24 = 29% events recalled (interview 1) / 6/24 = 25% events recalled (interview 2)
 Mean clarity rating 2.8 (interview 1) / Mean clarity rating 3.6 (interview 2)
 1 mark for recall, 1 mark for clarity.
 ‘both lower for false than true’ (1 mark)
 NB: some candidates are also using:
 ‘mean words recalled’, which is fine as an illustration of recall (True = 138, i.e. ‘more’ than False = 49.9)
 75% rejected suggestion (okay for recall of false)
7. From the study by Loftus and Pickrell (false memories):
(a) Explain what the participants believed the study was about. [2]
 “Subjects were told that they were participating in a study on childhood memories, and that we
were interested in how and why people remembered some things and not others.” (full)
 “The subjects in this study thought they were participating in a study of ‘the kinds of things you
may be able to remember from your childhood.” (partial)
False Memories Practice Questions Answer Key


childhood memories (partial)
Participants may also have had beliefs based on:
• being “…given a brief description of four events that supposedly occurred while the
subject and close family members were together.”
• the booklets they had to fill in
 1 mark partial (any 1 of the five ideas), 2 marks full (any 2 ideas).
 NB: believed study was about ‘memory’ (without further elaboration) = 0
(b) Explain why this was necessary. [2]
If they had known the real purpose it would not have been possible to investigate false beliefs as they would
have known which event was false.
 1 mark partial, 2 marks full
 1 mark only for simple comment about demand characteristics / validity / avoiding confounding
variables without further explanation.