Memory justifications provide valid indicators of retrieval accuracy across time.

ABSTRACT: Human beings share in others' experiences and learn from them, but epistemic vigilance is necessary to avoid being misled by false information, and to distinguish between veridical and non-veridical memories. Memory Justifications, individuals' explanations for why they believe a recalled event truly occurred, help maintain epistemic vigilance regarding our memories. Understanding how justifications are affected by the passage of time is crucial since they serve to ensure memory validity in everyday life and in legal settings. Using behavioral measures and linguistic analyses of participants' (N = 421) self-reported memory justifications, we examined changes in justifications' content and detail over time. The credibility of justifications was validated by comparing them with free recall p

SUBMITTER: Gamoran A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12820377 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature