False recall and false recognition induced by presentation of associated words: effects of retention interval and level of processing.

The effects of retention interval and level of processing on false recall and false recognition of associates were examined. False recall and false recognition were induced by presenting subjects with words closely associated with a non-studied word. Both level of processing and retention interval affected false recall (Experiment 1) and false recognition (Experiment 2) in the same direction with which they affected accurate recall and accurate recognition. That is, semantically processed lists exhibited higher levels of later false recall and false recognition than did superficially processed lists. Furthermore, a decline in false recall and false recognition occurred across retention intervals of 0, 2, and 7 days. However, the decline in false recall and false recognition was less pronounced than the decline in accurate recall and accurate recognition. Results are consistent with source monitoring and fuzzy trace explanations of false recall and false recognition.