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Lost in the mall again: a preregistered replication and extension of Loftus & Pickrell (1995)
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Accepted version
Date
2023-04-05
Authors
Murphy, Gillian
Dawson, Caroline A.
Huston, Charlotte
Ballantyne, Lisa
Barrett, Elizabeth
Cowman, Conor S.
Fitzsimons, Christopher
Maher, Julie
Ryan, Katie M.
Greene, Ciara M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
Published Version
Abstract
The seminal Lost in the Mall study has been enormously influential in psychology and is still cited in legal cases. The current study directly replicated this paper, addressing methodological weaknesses including increasing the sample size fivefold and preregistering detailed analysis plans. Participants (Nā=ā123) completed a survey and two interviews where they discussed real and fabricated childhood events, based on information provided by an older relative. We replicated the findings of the original study, coding 35% of participants as reporting a false memory for getting lost in a mall in childhood (compared to 25% in the original study). In an extension, we found that participants self-reported high rates of memories and beliefs for the fabricated event. Mock jurors were also highly likely to believe the fabricated event had occurred and that the participant was truly remembering the event, supporting the conclusions of the original study.
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Keywords
Autobiographical memory , False memory , Misinformation , Replication
Citation
Murphy, G., Dawson, C.A., Huston, C., Ballantyne, L., Barrett, E., Cowman, C.S., Fitzsimons, C., Maher, J., Ryan, K.M. and Greene, C.M. (2023) āLost in the mall again: a preregistered replication and extension of Loftus & Pickrell (1995)ā, Memory, (13 pp). https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2023.2198327