O'Connor Maureen K, Deason Rebecca G, Reynolds Erin, Tat Michael J, Flannery Sean, Solomon Paul R, Vassey Elizabeth A, Budson Andrew E
Department of Psychology, Bedford Veterans Affairs Hospital.
Department of Psychology, Texas State University.
Neuropsychology. 2015 Jul;29(4):550-60. doi: 10.1037/neu0000195. Epub 2015 Apr 20.
The imagination inflation effect is a type of memory distortion defined as an increased tendency to falsely remember that an item has been seen, or an action has been performed, when it has only been imagined. For patients with very mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), susceptibility to the imagination inflation effect could have significant functional consequences in daily life.
We assessed whether patients with very mild AD were more or less susceptible to the imagination inflation effect when compared with healthy older adults. In the first session, participants were read an action statement such as "fill the pillbox" and engaged in 1 of 3 activities: listened to the statement being read, performed the action, or imagined performing the action. During the second session, participants imagined action statements from the first session, as well as new action statements. During the recognition test, participants were asked to determine whether action statements were or were not performed during the first session.
We found that imagining performing actions increased the tendency of patients with very mild AD to falsely recall the action as having been performed to an extent similar to that of healthy older adults.
We concluded that, similar to healthy older adults, patients with very mild AD were susceptible to the imagination inflation effect, which we attributed to difficulties with source monitoring and reliance on familiarity.
想象膨胀效应是一种记忆扭曲类型，定义为当仅仅是想象过某一物品被看到或某一动作被执行时，错误地记住该物品被看到或该动作被执行的倾向增加。对于极轻度阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者而言，对想象膨胀效应的易感性在日常生活中可能会产生重大的功能后果。
我们评估了与健康老年人相比，极轻度AD患者对想象膨胀效应的易感性是更高还是更低。在第一阶段，向参与者宣读一个动作陈述，如“装满药盒”，并让他们参与三项活动中的一项：听陈述被宣读、执行该动作或想象执行该动作。在第二阶段，参与者想象第一阶段的动作陈述以及新的动作陈述。在识别测试中，要求参与者确定动作陈述在第一阶段是否被执行。
我们发现，想象执行动作会增加极轻度AD患者错误回忆该动作已被执行的倾向，其程度与健康老年人相似。
我们得出结论，与健康老年人一样，极轻度AD患者易受想象膨胀效应影响，我们将其归因于源监测困难和对熟悉度的依赖。
