# Memory distrust and imagination inflation: A registered report

## TL;DR

This study explores how distrust in one's memory affects increased confidence in imagined events, called imagination inflation.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel investigation into how memory distrust and personality traits influence imagination inflation.

## Key findings

- Participants who distrust their memories may experience stronger imagination inflation.
- Memory distrust could mediate the relationship between self-esteem and imagination inflation.
- Cues about event sources may sensitize participants to memory-imagery discrepancies.

## Abstract

Imagination inflation happens when a person’s subjective confidence that an event has occurred increases after they imagine it occurring. In this project, our primary aim is to test whether memory distrust is related to the imagination inflation effect in people who are aware of the discrepancies between their own memories and what they have imagined. Our secondary purpose is to investigate whether the influence of memory distrust on imagination inflation is moderated by traits that are described as disengagement from reality and to test whether memory distrust mediates the relationship between self-esteem and imagination inflation. In a three-step procedure, participants (N = 300) will assess their confidence that a list of childhood events happened to them; then, they will imagine three of these events and reassess their confidence. Half of the participants will undergo a memory distrust induction procedure. In order to sensitize participants to discrepancies, some of them will be given cues about the source and/or perspective of the imagined events.