Weak correlations among 13 episodic memory tasks related to the same public event

Abstract

If an individual demonstrates accurate autobiographical memory in one task, will they also demonstrate accurate autobiographical memory in related tasks? Over 18 months, 213 participants completed 13 episodic memory tasks related to the same national referendum. Tasks included false memories for fake news, flashbulb memories, factual memories, memory for emotions, hindsight bias, eyewitness accuracy, susceptibility to leading questions and memory blindness. Although moderate to strong correlations were found over time for the same episodic memory tasks, correlations among differing memory tasks were very weak. Our findings suggest that individuals vary in how well they remember different elements of a public event. We conclude that episodic memory is a multi-faceted construct and researchers should be slow to generalise from one task to another, even when the two tasks refer to the same public event (e.g., we should not presume that individual differences in event memory will predict false memories for fake news).