Still Lost in the Mall: False Memories Happen and That's What Matters

For more than 25 years, psychologists have explored how people can develop rich false memories. Murphy et al. (2023) replicated the original “lost in the mall” study (Loftus and Pickrell 1995), demonstrating that 35% of participants developed false beliefs or memories. Andrews and Brewin (in press) reanalyzed Murphy et al.'s data, concluding that participants who developed false memories reported 25% of the suggested details and 50% of their reports were potentially real memories. Based on this, Andrews and Brewin posited that only 4% of Murphy et al.'s participants developed false memories. We take issue with Andrews and Brewin's conclusions. Given human memory is reconstructive, we should expect participants' reports to contain remnants of accurate memories, self or schematic knowledge, or speculation. Moreover, even low false memory rates can be practically important. What matters is that suggestive influences can lead to substantial memory distortions and even plant new events that had not occurred.