On the Existence and Implications of Nonbelieved Memories

2014/10/01 by Henry Otgaar, Alan Scoboria, Giuliana Mazzoni · 4 citations
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Identity, Memory, and Therapy #Memory Processes and Influences #Memory and Neural Mechanisms

paper · doi:10.1177/0963721414542102

openalex publication_date 2014/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

In this article, we review the state of knowledge about a previously-assumed-to-be-rare memory phenomenon called nonbelieved memories. Nonbelieved memories are a counterintuitive phenomenon in which vivid autobiographical memories are no longer believed to have happened even though vivid recollective features remain present. Such memories stand in contrast to the more typical situation that when events are recollected they are also believed to have genuinely occurred. We review data on the frequency, characteristics, and factors that contribute to the development of naturally occurring and laboratory-induced nonbelieved memories and discuss the relationships of nonbelieved memories with theories of autobiographical remembering and the study of remembering in applied domains.

Cited by

• Undermining belief in false memories leads to less efficient problem-solving behaviour
• Recollection, belief and metacognition: a reality check
• Time and memory distrust shape the dynamics of recollection and belief-in-occurrence
• Belief in memories may be relinquished as often for adulthood as for childhood events, but for different reasons

Related

• Creating nonbelieved memories for bizarre actions using an imagination inflation procedure
• Vivid but No Longer Believed: Nonbelieved Memories Among People With War‐Related Experiences
• Causally defective remembering: a study on the folk concept of memory
• How intention and monitoring your thoughts influence characteristics of autobiographical memories
• A complementary processes account of the development of childhood amnesia and a personal past.