Relationship between Trait Mindfulness and False Memory: A Bilingual Deese-Roediger-McDermott Paradigm

In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, participants falsely recall or recognize a nonpresented word (critical lure), highly associated with previously studied words. As numerous DRM studies have found a robust false memory effect at the behavioural level, event-related potentials (ERPs) studies have searched for possible overlapping in brain electrical activity between true and false memory. Using the DRM paradigm, the present experiment manipulated the sensory modality of stimulus presentation (auditory vs. visual) in the study phase to analyse the effect of modality match between study and test on true and false recognition. Words were therefore presented either visually or auditorily at study and always visually at test. True recognition was found to be significantly higher in the modality 'match' condition (visual-visual) than in the 'mismatch' condition (auditory-visual), whereas there was no modality-match effect on false recognition of critical lures. A general, overlapping was found between ERP correlates of true and false recognition: FN400 (300-500 ms), left-parietal (400-800 ms) and late right-frontal (1000-1500 ms) old/new effects were similar for both studied words and critical lures. No sensory modality-match effect was associated with FN400 or left-parietal old/new effects. Only the late right-frontal activity was modulated by modality manipulation, with significantly more positive ERPs in the modality-match condition. Sensory modality match of stimulus presentation, therefore, dissociated true and false recognition memory only at the behavioural level but not at the ERP level. Overall, true and false recognition memories seem to share common underlying processes.

False memories have been extensively investigated over the past few decades using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. In this paradigm, participants study lists of words associatively related to a non-presented critical lure. During a memory test, these critical lures are falsely recalled or recognized. Most studies have focused on false memories that arise when both encoding and retrieval are conducted in the same language (i.e., within-language conditions), which is typically the participant's native or first language (L1). However, much less is known about false memories when critical lures appear in the memory test in a different language than the studied lists (i.e., between-language conditions), being one of them the participant's second language (L2). The main objective of this exhaustive review was to provide an overview of the current state of research on false recognition using the DRM paradigm in between-language conditions, where languages are switched between encoding and retrieval (i.e., L1L2 versus L2L1). The results revealed a language dominance effect in between-language false memories. In other words, false recognition rates were dependent on the study language, with a trend toward higher false recognition when words were enconded in the L1 (L1L2) compared to when words were encoded in the L2 (L2L1). This review enhances our understanding of how studying words in a first or second language affects false memory in the DRM paradigm, emphasizing the significance of investigating false memory in second language speakers and the necessity for further research in the field.

Background: Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are effective in adult substance-use treatment and may be helpful for adolescents and young adults (AYAs). One target of MBIs is to improve trait mindfulness, which has been associated with better lifestyle and health outcomes. To inform MBIs for reducing cannabis use in AYAs, we sought to identify how trait mindfulness was associated with cannabis-related problems and quit attempts, as well as with motivation to change use in youth who report frequent use. Methods: Participants aged 15–24 years using cannabis ≥ 3x/week were recruited from AYA clinics in a northeastern US city to participate in a cannabis-use intervention pilot, randomized trial. At baseline, we assessed cannabis-use history, problems associated with use, attempts to quit, and trait mindfulness. All participants were offered two sessions of motivational enhancement therapy, during which they rated motivation to quit cannabis. Regression analyses were conducted to assess associations between trait mindfulness and cannabis use–related problems, attempts to quit, and motivation to change. Results: Seventy participants, mean age 20.7 ± 1.9 years, enrolled. Sixty percent identified as female, 47% as Black non-Hispanic, and 31% as Hispanic. Participants started using cannabis at mean age 15.0 ± 2.8 years and were using ≥ 3x/week by 17.0 ± 2.3 years. Higher mindfulness scores were associated with fewer cannabis-related problems (p = 0.004) and fewer quit attempts (p = 0.035). The number of cannabis-related problems did not significantly mediate the relationship between mindfulness and quit attempts. Trait mindfulness did not predict motivation to change cannabis use. Conclusions: Among AYAs using cannabis frequently, higher trait mindfulness was associated with both fewer cannabis use-–related problems and fewer quit attempts. Future research should assess whether trait mindfulness is an appropriate target for decreasing cannabis use and the utility of MBIs for reducing cannabis-use behaviors.

<title>Abstract</title> Trait mindfulness refers to an individual's inherent capacity to maintain sustained awareness and focus on present experiences. This characteristic is naturally present in the population, even without intentional mindfulness training, and is significantly negatively correlated with negative emotions, anxiety, and depression. Fear is an adaptive response to threat, but excessive generalization of fear is a key underlying factor in anxiety disorders. Fear generalization occurs when an individual, having learned to fear a specific threat, extends this fear response to stimuli that share similarities with the original threat but are not directly related. Investigating the influence of trait mindfulness on fear learning and its generalization can provide valuable insights for the intervention and prevention of anxiety disorders. In this study, 30 university students were recruited and categorized into high and low trait mindfulness groups based on their scores on the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale. Subjective expectancy ratings and retrospective fear and valence assessments were used as indicators to examine the effect of trait mindfulness on fear generalization. The results demonstrated a significant difference between the two groups: individuals with high trait mindfulness exhibited a weaker fear generalization, both in terms of its extent and intensity, and showed stronger inhibition of fear generalization. However, no significant differences were found between the groups in terms of fear extinction. These findings suggest that trait mindfulness may serve as a modulating factor in the relationship between fear generalization and anxiety disorders. Consequently, trait mindfulness, as a stable psychological trait, may be a crucial target for assessment and intervention in clinical and educational settings.

With the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, the repetition effect on false memory had never been clarified. More importantly, the spacing effect on false memory was never directly investigated. So, we carried out two experiments to examine these effects on true and false recognition. In experiment 1, participants studied DRM lists which were presented one, three or five times. In experiment 2, we manipulated the repetition mode (massed vs. spaced with a short interval or a long interval) to explore the spacing effect. The results showed that true recognition increased monotonically with list repetition (experiment 1) and repetition spacing (experiment 2). The most striking finding was a similar spacing effect but no repetition effect on false recognition. Thus, these results were principally discussed in the light of the activation-monitoring framework.

Postpartum depression affects many women after childbirth, impacting both maternal and child well-being. Psychological traits such as trait mindfulness, resilience, and self-efficacy have been linked to postpartum depression, but their interactions and collective influence are not well understood. The study aims to examine the associations between trait mindfulness, resilience, self-efficacy, and postpartum depression. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from August 2022 to May 2023 using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the General Self-efficacy Scale, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Dominance analysis, latent profile analysis, and serial-multiple mediation models were employed for data analysis. Dominance analysis showed that trait mindfulness, resilience, and self-efficacy explained 36.3%, 35.4%, and 28.3% of the variance in postpartum depression, respectively. Three trait mindfulness profiles were identified as mild (23.2%), moderate (55.5%), and high (21.3%). Postpartum women in the mild group exhibited higher postpartum depressive symptoms than those in the moderate and high groups. The effects of trait mindfulness on postpartum depression were significantly mediated by resilience (B=-0.064, 95% CI -0.088 to -0.044), self-efficacy (B=-0.014, 95% CI -0.023 to -0.006), and serial mediation between resilience and self-efficacy (B=-0.027, 95% CI -0.040 to -0.015). Similar significant mediation effects were observed for moderate (resilience: B=-0.126, 95% CI -0.169 to -0.065, self-efficacy: B=-0.041, 95% CI -0.078 to -0.010, resilience and self-efficacy: B=-0.053, 95% CI -0.090 to -0.023) and high trait mindfulness profiles (resilience: B=-0.381, 95% CI -0.514 to -0.267, self-efficacy: B=-0.082, 95% CI -0.139 to -0.033, resilience and self-efficacy: B=-0.160, 95% CI -0.237 to -0.089) when compared to the mild reference group. Trait mindfulness significantly impacts postpartum depression and exhibits heterogeneity among postpartum women. The relationship between trait mindfulness and postpartum depression was mediated by resilience and self-efficacy.

Previous research has shown that despite experiencing more negative life events, older adults maintain relatively high levels of well-being compared to their younger counterparts. This effect appears to be at least partially mediated by trait mindfulness in older adults (Raes et al., 2013). The current study expanded into an investigation as to how trait mindfulness might intervene on the relationship between age and other well-being indicators: anxiety and depressive symptomology. Participants included 30 older adults (aged 60-83) and 41 young adults (aged 18-35). Trait mindfulness was examined using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), while depressive symptoms and trait anxiety were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), respectively. Two separate mediated multiple regression models were conducted using Hayes’ PROCESS Macro in SPSS. Trait mindfulness exhibited a significant indirect effect on the relationship between age and depressive symptoms (β = -2.27, p < .005), which was also seen for the relationship between age and trait anxiety (β = -4.17, p < .001). Older age predicted higher trait mindfulness, which in turn predicted diminished self-reported anxiety and depressive symptomology. Controlling for mindfulness in these models reduced the direct effect of age on depression and anxiety to non-significance. These findings imply that the relationship between age and trait mindfulness can be extended to alternative markers of well-being.

ABSTRACTWe used the Fuzzy-Trace Theory (FTT) perspective to investigate the role of context switching or reinstatement on correct and false recognition in Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) and simple false memory for occurrence (FMO) tasks. In two experiments, participants studied words presented against unique picture backgrounds. The results indicated that providing specific item-context associative information in the reinstated-context test condition enhances verbatim trace retrieval of targets but does not influence their gist retrieval. In the case of false recognitions of related distracters, manipulations of retrieval context resulted in different effects across experiments, putatively because the DRM and FMO tasks involve different latent-processes implied by FTT. The results confirmed the critical role of retrieval conditions for false and correct recognition memory and showed the insights that can be gained from the process-level multinomial modelling analyses of data obtained in particular experimental paradigms.

Insight accompanied by an 'aha!' experience has a mnemonic effect. Previous studies of insight have often focused on the mnemonic effect of insight on veridical memories, while the effect of insight on false memories is not known. More understanding of the mnemonic effect of insight on false memories could have implications for the mechanism of insightful mnemonic effects. The present research examined whether insight has a mnemonic effect on false memories. Participants were asked to perform Chinese verbal compound remote associate (CRA) tasks and then complete the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task, the critical lure of which was also the solution to the Chinese CRA problem. Compared to non-insight, insight was associated with a lower critical lures rate in Experiment 1 and with lower critical lures and unrelated words rates in Experiment 2 when the presentation of DRM list words was random. Giving a warning before DRM tasks could reduce the critical lures rate of non-insight but had little effect on insightful solutions in Experiment 3. These findings indicate that insight can reduce false memories.

University nursing students have been shown to experience psychological stress. A mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) may be a helpful tool for stress management. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a MBI on improving mindfulness and reducing perceived stress in nursing students. A quasi-experimental study was conducted between July 2021 and February 2022. The intervention group participated in an 8-week mindfulness awareness course, which included 50 min of training and practice in mindfulness meditation techniques each week. Over the same 8 weeks, the control group watched a 50-min film each week. The mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS) and perceived stress scale (PSS) were administered before the intervention, intervention completion, and 2 and 6 months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using t test and generalized estimating equation. Overall, that the MBI showed a substantial effect on felt stress in comparison to the control group. When compared to the control group, the MBI showed a substantial impact on trait mindfulness. The MBI was beneficial for nursing students and could be considered a viable approach in nursing education to enhance mental wellbeing. It could be an effective method of relieving stress in a high-stress population.

Mindfulness and clinical correlates in methamphetamine use disorder

Memory is prone to illusions. When people are presented with lists of words associated with a non-presented critical lure, they produce a high level of false recognitions (false memories) for non-presented related stimuli indistinguishable, at the explicit level, from presented words (DRM paradigm). We assessed whether true and false DRM memories can be distinguished at the implicit level by using the autobiographical IAT (aIAT), a novel method based on indirect measures that permits to detect true autobiographical events encoded in the respondent’s mind/brain. In our experiment, after a DRM task participants performed two aIATs: the first aimed at testing implicit memory for presented words (true-memories aIAT) and the second aimed at evaluating implicit memory for critical lures (false-memories aIAT). Specifically, the two aIATs assessed the association of presented words and critical lures with the logical dimension “true.” Results showed that the aIAT detected a greater association of presented words than critical lures with the logical dimension “true.” This result indicates that although true and false DRM memories are indistinguishable at the explicit level a different association of the true and false DRM memories with the logical dimension “true” can be detected at the implicit level, and suggests that the aIAT may be a sensitive instrument to detect differences between true and false DRM memories.

The present study focuses on both the clinical symptom of confabulation and experimentally induced false memories in patients suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome. Despite the vast amount of case studies of confabulating patients and studies investigating false memories in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, the nature of Korsakoff patients' confabulatory behaviour and its association with DRM false memories have been rarely examined. Hence, the first aim of the present study was to evaluate confabulatory responses in a large sample of chronic Korsakoff patients and matched controls by means of the Dalla Barba Confabulation Battery. Second, the association between (provoked) confabulation and the patients' DRM false recognition performance was investigated. Korsakoff patients mainly confabulated in response to questions about episodic memory and questions to which the answer was unknown. A positive association was obtained between confabulation and the tendency to accept unstudied distractor words as being old in the DRM paradigm. On the other hand, there was a negative association between confabulation and false recognition of critical lures. The latter could be attributed to the importance of strategic retrieval at delayed memory testing.

ABSTRACTIn the present experiment, we investigated whether warnings provided at the time of retrieval would reduce emotional false memories in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. The provision of retrieval warnings allowed us to test specific predictions based on the associative theories (e.g., Activation-Monitoring Theory; AMT) and Fuzzy-Trace Theory (FTT) that have been used to account for false memories in the DRM paradigm. Participants were randomly assigned to either a no-warning group or a retrieval-warning group. In each group, mood-induction procedures were used to elicit a positive, negative, or neutral mood and participants were then presented with word lists comprised of positive, negative, or neutral words. Retrieval warnings reduced false recognition, regardless of the valence of the to-be-remembered information or participants’ mood. Consistent with the associative theories’ predictions, within the warning condition, positive moods yielded greater false recognition for positive critical lures, and negative moods yielded greater false recognition for negative critical lures, compared to neutral moods. These findings have important practical implications for our understanding of the effect of mood on memory.

Objective: This study intends to investigate the moderating role of intentional self-regulation in the relationship between trait mindfulness and psychological resilience. Methods: A total of 260 college students were recruited in the study and were assessed by using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale(MAAS), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale(CD-RISC) and the Intentional Self-regulation Test. Results: (1) The scores of MAAS, CD-RISC and the Intentional Self-regulation Test were 65.391 12.896, 70.048 13.202 and 38.315 3.430, respectively; (2) Trait mindfulness was positively associated with psychological resilience (r=0.652, P&lt;0.001), and intentional self-regulation was positively related to trait mindfulness(r=0.561, P&lt;0.001) and psychological resilience(r=0.721, P&lt;0.001), respectively; (3) Intentional self-regulation plays a partial moderating role between trait mindfulness and psychological resilience. Conclusion: Trait mindfulness not only has a direct effect on psychological resilience among college students, but also indirectly influences intentional self-regulation by the mediating effect of psychological resilience.