Looking at the actor's face: Identity cues and attentional focus in false memories of action performance from observation

Observing another's actions can induce false memories of self-performance. We investigated whether such observation inflation depends on the discriminability between the self and the observed actor. Discriminability was manipulated by presenting actions either with or without a key visual identity cue, i.e., the actor's face. We also examined whether self–other confusions in the face-visible condition depend on attentional focus (directed to the observed action vs. the actor's face). In the action-only condition, observation inflation was significant and greater than in the face-visible conditions, in which the effect was moderated by attentional focus: It persisted under an action focus but was eliminated under a face focus. Findings for correct memories of self-performance suggest that the reduced effect is not merely due to weaker encoding of the actions themselves. We conclude that self–other confusions in action memory are constrained by the availability of distinctive non-self cues during observation, and sustained by a visual focus on observed actions.

► We investigate self–other confusion in the domain of memory.
► Observation of another's action can induce false memories of self-performance.
► We examine boundary conditions and mechanisms for this novel type of false memory.
► A distinctive identity cue to the observed person reduced false memories.
► False memories were fully eliminated when attention was directed to this cue.