Compelling untruths: the effect of retention interval on content borrowing and vivid false memories.

False memories are sometimes vivid and detailed. We proposed that the details that come to be associated with false memories may be produced by a process called content borrowing. In content borrowing, details from presented items are erroneously borrowed to corroborate the occurrence of the false memory item. In the present research we used think-out-loud protocols at both study and test to provide evidence for content borrowing in the DRM paradigm. We also demonstrated that content borrowing was more common after a 2-week delay, and was more common for critical lures than for missing exemplars.