Occasionally People Have False Memories, "Recalling" Events That Never Actually

question 30

Multiple Choice

Occasionally people have false memories, "recalling" events that never actually happened. Three of the following false memories are consistent with research findings regarding when false memories are likely to form. Which one is inconsistent with research findings?

• A) After seeing a photo of a girl who looks like her riding an elephant, 10-year-old Sally says, "Oh, yes, I remember that elephant ride."
• B) Eighteen-year-old Mark recalls attending a Jewish Bar Mitzvah when he was 13, even though he isn't Jewish and doesn't have any friends who are Jewish.
• C) Four-year-old Carmen is asked to imagine herself going to Disney World and meeting Snow White. Several months later she claims she actually did meet Snow White.
• D) As a requirement for his psychology class, 20-year-old Damion participates in a research study in which he's asked to read a group of 10 interrelated words e.g., bed, pillow, dream. Afterward he claims that one of the words was sleep, even though it wasn't included in the list.

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Definitions:

Sense of Taste

The ability to perceive and differentiate the flavors of substances, including sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, and umami.

Sense of Smell

The ability to detect and identify volatile substances through the olfactory system.

Place Theory

A theory in hearing that suggests different areas of the cochlea are activated by different frequencies of sound, enabling us to discern pitch.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum intensity of a stimulus required to be correctly perceived by sensory systems at least 50% of the time.