# False memory test: 15 words, then write what you remember

Source page: https://underthebehavior.com/tests/false-memory-test

A free false memory test from a 1995 study: watch 15 words, then write down every word you remember. Not a clinical test. Nothing is sent or saved.

In a 1995 study, students wrote down a word that was never on the list on 55% of the lists. Roediger and McDermott, 1995

False memory test

You see 15 words, one at a time, at the study's pace of about one every 1.5 seconds. Then you write down every word you remember, in any order. The page shows which ones you got.

This test runs on JavaScript, in your browser only. With it turned off, the steps and the study's numbers are below.

Runs in your browser. Nothing you tap is sent or saved.

## How it works
1. 1 **Watch**

Fifteen words, one at a time, at the study's pace.
2. 2 **Write**

Every word you remember, in any order.
3. 3 **Check**

See which words came back, and what the list was built around.

## What Roediger and McDermott found in 1995

Recall in Roediger and McDermott's Experiment 2
- Words that were on the lists **62%**
- The word that was never on the list **55%**

 Roediger and McDermott, 1995

55%

of the lists, 30 students wrote down the word the list was built around, a word they never heard.

Experiment 2 · Roediger and McDermott, 1995

62%

of the time, the words that really were on the lists came back.

Experiment 2 · Roediger and McDermott, 1995

### More from the paper

> Subjects recalled the critical nonpresented word on 55% of the lists.

Quoted from Roediger and McDermott, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1995

The method goes back to a 1959 study by Deese. In 1995 the students heard the words read aloud on tape. Here you read them on the screen.

## Questions

### Is this a clinical memory test, or a test for OCD?

No. It is not a test for any condition. It shows how one word list from a 1995 study works.

### Where does the word list come from?

It is one of the published lists from Roediger and McDermott's 1995 paper, in its published order.

Play-along tests on YouTube

Every play-along test so far, each with its source.

Play-along tests · YouTube [See them on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFk3o-OnGv2Y)

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## Sources (2)
1.

Roediger, H. L., III, and McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21(4), 803 to 814. [doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.803](https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.803)
2.

Deese, J. (1959). On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58(1), 17 to 22. [doi.org/10.1037/h0046671](https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046671)

The 15 words are the published list. The rest of the test is our own build.