Implanting false autobiographical memories and the effect of mood on false autobiographical memory creation

Although human memory appears to be highly reliable, memory distortions are inevitable, influenced by external factors or the passage of time. Researchers have extensively studied these memory distortions, commonly known as false memory. The present study has two main objectives. Firstly, it aims to replicate a new method for implanting false autobiographical memories. Secondly, it seeks to explore the impact of mood on the false autobiographical belief and memory implantation. For the replication phase, the participants were divided into Single and Repeated groups. Participants were presented with a set of 20 autobiographical events, including a critical false event (swimsuit falling off), and were asked to recall whether they had experienced these events. After one week, participants who had not encountered the false event were given a second survey that suggested they had indeed experienced it ones or repeatedly. They were then asked to provide belief and recollection ratings. The replication of the study was partially successful, with the successful implantation of false beliefs and false memories ranging between 4% and 12%. For the mood induction phase, participants were divided into four groups: Single-Positive, Single-Negative, Repeated-Positive, and Repeated-Negative. The same procedure was followed, but at the onset of the second survey, participants' mood was manipulated using video clips. The mood induction part of the study was also partially successful. Regardless of the event frequency groups, the false belief creation was significantly higher in the Negative mood groups than in the Positive mood groups. The study's results, clinical implications, limitations, and future recommendations were discussed.