?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Imagination+Inflation%3A+Imagining+a+Childhood+Event+Inflates+Confidence+That+It+Occurred&rft.creator=Garry%2C+Maryanne&rft.creator=Manning%2C+Charles+G&rft.creator=Loftus%2C+Elizabeth+F&rft.creator=Sherman%2C+Steven+J&rft.subject=Applied+Cognitive+Psychology&rft.subject=Cognitive+Psychology&rft.description=Counterfactual+imaginings+are+known+to+have+far+reaching+implications.+In+the+present+experiment%2C+we+ask+if+imagining+events+from+one's+past+can+affect+memory+for+childhood+events.+We+draw+on+the+social+psychology+literature+showing+that+imagining+a+future+event+increases+the+subjective+likelihood+that+the+event+will+occur.+The+concepts+of+cognitive+availability+and+the+source+monitoring+framework+provide+reasons+to+expect+that+imagination+may+inflate+confidence+that+a+childhood+event+occurred.+However%2C+people+routinely+produce+myriad+counterfactual+imaginings+(i.e.%2C+daydreams+and+fantasies)+but+usually+do+not+confuse+them+with+past+experiences.+To+determine+the+effects+of+imagining+a+childhood+event%2C+we+pretested+subjects+on+how+confident+they+were+that+a+number+of+childhood+events+had+happened%2C+asked+them+to+imagine+some+of+those+events%2C+and+then+gathered+new+confidence+measures.+For+each+of+the+target+items%2C+imagination+inflated+confidence+that+the+event+had+occurred+in+childhood.+We+discuss+implications+for+situations+in+which+imagination+is+used+as+an+aid+in+searching+for+presumably+lost+memories.&rft.date=1996&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F590%2F1%2F199801004.html&rft.identifier=++Garry%2C+Maryanne+and+Manning%2C+Charles+G+and+Loftus%2C+Elizabeth+F+and+Sherman%2C+Steven+J++(1996)+Imagination+Inflation%3A+Imagining+a+Childhood+Event+Inflates+Confidence+That+It+Occurred.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F590%2F