Generating lies produces lower memory predictions and higher memory performance than telling the truth: evidence for a metacognitive illusion

Date
2018
Authors
Besken, M.
Advisor
Instructor
Source Title
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition
Print ISSN
0278-7393
Electronic ISSN
1939-1285
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Volume
44
Issue
3
Pages
465 - 484
Language
English
Type
Article
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract

Manipulations that induce disfluency during encoding generally produce lower memory predictions for the disfluent condition than for the fluent condition. Similar to other manipulations of disfluency, generating lies takes longer and requires more mental effort than does telling the truth; hence, a manipulation of lie generation might produce patterns similar to other types of fluency for memory predictions. The current study systematically investigates the effect of a lie-generation manipulation on both actual and predicted memory performance. In a series of experiments, participants told the truth or generated plausible lies to general knowledge questions and made item-by-item predictions about their subsequent memory performance during encoding, followed by a free recall test. Participants consistently predicted their memory performance to be higher for truth than for lies (Experiments 1 through 4), despite their typically superior actual memory performance for lies than for the truth (Experiments 1 through 3), producing double dissociations between memory and metamemory. Moreover, lying led to longer response latencies than did telling the truth, showing that generating lies is in fact objectively more disfluent. An additional experiment compared memory predictions for truth and lie trials via a scenario about the lie-generation manipulation used in the present study, which revealed superior memory predictions of truth than of lies, providing proof for a priori beliefs about the effects of lying on predicted memory (Experiment 5). The effects of the current lie-generation manipulation on metamemory are discussed in light of experience-based and theory-based processes on making judgments of learning. Theoretical and practical implications of this experimental paradigm are also considered.

Course
Other identifiers
Book Title
Keywords
Bases of judgments of learning, Fluency, Lying, Memory, Metamemory
Citation
Published Version (Please cite this version)