How do participants feel about the ethics of rich false memory studies?

Deception is often a necessity in rich false memory studies, but is this deception acceptable to participants? In the current study, we followed up with 175 participants who had taken part in a replication of the Lost in the Mall childhood false memory study (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995), as either a research subject or a familial informant. We found that both participants and informants were generally very positive about their experience, did not regret taking part and found the deceptive methods acceptable. Importantly, the vast majority reported that they would still have taken part had they known the true objectives from the beginning. Participants also reported learning something interesting about memory and enjoying the nostalgia and family discussions that were prompted by the study. We would encourage other researchers to assess the ethical implications of false memory research paradigms and to incorporate the valuable feedback from participants and informants.

Automated summary

Deception is often necessary in rich false memory studies, but it's important to assess its acceptability to participants. In a follow-up study, we found that participants and informants were generally positive about their experience, found the deceptive methods acceptable, and would still have participated knowing the true objectives. They also reported gaining interesting knowledge about memory and enjoying the nostalgic and family discussions prompted by the study. We encourage researchers to consider the ethical implications of false memory research and incorporate valuable participant feedback.