Mental checking and the influence on memory confidence
Summary
In previous studies a relationship has been found between repeated checking behaviour - a common symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - and confidence in memory. Paradoxically, perseverative checking serves to increase distrust in memory. The current study has investigated perseverative mental checking, which is the repeated retrieval of memories of (OCD relevant) situations, by means of two experiments. In the first experiment the relationship between perseverative mental checking and confidence in memory, vividness and detail of memory was investigated. For this purpose an interactive computer program, displaying gas rings and/or light bulbs, was used. The experiment consisted of a training phase, a pre-test phase, a checking phase and a post-test phase and included two conditions. In the relevant condition participants imagined to check combinations of similar objects (gas rings or light bulbs) throughout the whole experiment. In the irrelevant condition however, in the checking phase participants were supposed to imagine to check objects other than the objects checked during pre-test phase. The results did not fully answer the initial questions. In both conditions there was a similar decline of vividness and detail and moreover there was no decline in confidence. In a second experiment the effect of memory decay on confidence, vividness and detail of memory has been investigated. A third condition was included in which participants during the checking phase did not check but read aloud a story. The second experiment made clear that the results from the first experiment could be explained by retroactive interference of mental activity. In all conditions vividness and detail of memory declined. Despite this decline, no decrease of confidence in memory was observed, although vividness and detail of memory were expected to influence confidence in memory.
Memory confidence; OCD; mental checking; memory vividness; memory detail; perseverative checking