Imagination as a source of false memories in younger and older adults: cognitive and brain mechanisms.

The research in this PhDaims to investigate the cognitive and brain mechanisms underlying the formation and retrieval of false memories, and how these differ across younger and older adults. It is consistently found that episodic memory performance deteriorates as we age, which is associated with changes in memory-related brain activity (e.g. Friedman, Nessler & Johnson, 2007; Rugg, Fletcher, Frith, Frackowiak, Dolan, 1997; Naveh-Benjamin, Brev & Levy, 2007). However, there is less evidence on how age-related cognitive changes influence the formation of false memories, and how false memories affect memories of events that actually happened. The research proposed here aims to address these issues. Electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioural methods will be used to investigate the mechanisms by which counterfactual versions of true events are imagined and subsequently falsely recalled as real.