Individual differences in the accuracy of autobiographical memory.

In recent literature on ‘false memories’, autobiographical memory distortions are often linked to manipulations such as hypnosis or imagination. However, Barclay and Wellman (1986) demonstrated that such distortions might also occur more or less spontaneously. The current study sought to replicate this phenomenon. In addition, it examined whether certain personality traits, (i.e. fantasy proneness, dissociation, absorption, suggestibility and depression) might contribute to such spontaneous pseudo-memories. Volunteers (N = 38) kept a diary of self-selected, outstanding events for a 2-week period. Six months later, they were unexpectedly given a recognition test consisting of original memories and several types of foils. Participants performed relatively well on the recognition task, although they had some difficulties differentiating original items from foil items. Curiously enough, fantasy proneness was related to superior recognition performance. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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