# Memory confusion protocol

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Memory_confusion_protocol
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Memory_confusion_protocol.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_confusion_protocol
> Source revision: 1150666400
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

The **memory confusion protocol** is a technique used by [social psychologists](/source/Social_psychology) to discover whether [subjects](/source/Human_subject_research) are [categorizing](/source/Categorization) [individuals](/source/Individual) into groups and, if so, what characteristics they are using to do so – without the knowledge of the subjects, in order to reduce the risk that subjects will try to conceal their reasons. The technique has three main steps:

1. Subjects are shown [photographs](/source/Photograph) of the individuals and are asked to form impressions of them.
1. The subjects then see a set of [sentences](/source/Sentence_(linguistics)), each of which is paired with a photograph of the individual who said it.
1. Subjects are not forewarned of the final step, a surprise [recall](/source/Recollection) task: the sentences are presented in random order, and the subjects must attribute each to the correct individual.

The subjects' mistakes in the recall task reveal how they categorize the individuals: the subjects are more likely to misattribute A's statement to B if they grouped A and B as members of the same category than if they considered them members of different categories.[1]

## References

1. Taylor, S.; Fiske, S.; Etcoff, N.; & Ruderman, A. (1978). "Categorical and contextual bases of person memory and stereotyping". *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology*. **36** (7): 778–793. [doi:10.1037/0022-3514.36.7.778](https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.36.7.778) A description and example are given at Robert Kurzban; John Tooby; & Leda Cosmides (December 18, 2001). ["Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization"](http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/papers/eraserace.pdf). *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. **98** (26): 15387–15392. [Bibcode:2001PNAS...9815387K](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001PNAS...9815387K). [doi:10.1073/pnas.251541498](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.251541498). [PMC 65039](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC65039). [PMID 11742078](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11742078). Retrieved 2008-06-11.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Memory confusion protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_confusion_protocol) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_confusion_protocol?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.