false, added a new dimension to the debate. Each of these scientists contributed
a chapter to this volume, and are joined by other prominent memory research-
ers who have taken seriously the charge to investigate the "recovered memory-
false-memory creation" problem.

The first chapter, by Rhonda Douglas Brown, Eleanor Goldstein, and David
Bjorklund, sets the stage for the chapters that follow by providing a brief history
of both the science and sociology of the "repressed memory-false memory"
debate. In the second chapter, Amy Tsai, Elizabeth Loftus, and Danielle Polage
review evidence of interview techniques that serve to create false memories, in-
cluding repeated suggestion by authoritative and credible figures. They review
new research from their laboratory demonstrating that imagination inflation can
produce false memories even in the analysis of dreams and when participants
keep diaries of events they are questioned about. In chapter 3, Mark Oakes and
Ira Hyman, Jr. review research and present a theory of how adults create false
memories of childhood events, and thus a false self. They propose that three
processes are involved in the creation of false childhood memories: plausibility
judgments, memory construction, and source-monitoring errors. In chapter 4,
Kathy Pezdek and Jennifer Taylor evaluate different methods that have been
used to differentiate between true and false memories. They synthesize the ex-
tant literature and conclude that, although there is no fail-safe technique for de-
termining the truth of a statement, memories for true events have greater
clarity, are held more confidently, and are described with more words than
memories for false events. Charles Brainerd, Valerie Reyna, and Debra Poole ar-
gue in chapter 5 that the development of better theories to explain false-mem-
ory creation is important not just for scientists, but also for the legal profession.
They then review research and generate a theory, based on fuzzy-trace theory,
to account for both the spontaneous and implanted memories in children and
adults. In chapter 6, Daniel Schacter, Kenneth Norman, and Wilma Koutstaal
present a somewhat different approach to false memories compared to the
other contributors of this volume, focusing on the neuropsychology of con-
structive memory. They present a constructive memory framework (CMF) that
examines aspects of encoding, decision making, and retrieval from a
neuropsychological perspective to account for false-memory creation. In chap-
ter 7, Stephen Ceci, Maggie Bruck, and David Battin explore the factors, both in
the laboratory and in forensic interviews, that contribute to the suggestibility of
young children. They focus on the effects of leading questions, stereotype in-
duction, and other types of interviewer biases, as well as specific techniques
that are aimed at enhancing memory, such as visualization and the use of ana-
tomically correct dolls. In the final chapter, Peter Ornstein and Andrea Follmer
Greenhoot argue that researchers and practitioners must take seriously, and
from a developmental perspective, four themes of memory: (a) not everything

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