DRM Paradigm (Deese-Roediger-McDermott Paradigm)

The DRM Paradigm is a psychological experiment that studies how people remember words and sometimes falsely recall items that weren’t actually presented. Participants hear lists of related words (like bright, warm, sunny) but not the key word connecting them (like "hot"). Later, they often “remember” hearing the related word even though it wasn’t presented. This helps researchers understand how memory works, particularly how it can sometimes create false memories based on associations and patterns we recognize, revealing the constructive and sometimes imperfect nature of human memory.