So
as we learned in my last post, alcohol consumption can lead to the creation of
false memories. However, false memories can also occur without any
substance-provocation. For example, presidential candidate Mitt Romney once
publically recalled attending an event which took place months before he was
even born. Why does our brain give us the wrong answers when we want to recall
memories or attempt to recover “repressed memories.” Are repressed memories
even a legitimate thing?
Dr.
Elizabeth Loftus has done a lot of research on false memories. Her interest
stems from parents being accused by their adult children of things they have
remembered as “repressed memories.” Now, to be clear, according to Dr. Loftus,
repressed memories are not a legitimate thing. Since these court cases, there
has been a lot of speculation regarding false memories and people’s abilities
to not only create the vivid imagery, but to believe it. However, one important
thing to notice is that every time we pull a memory out of the shadows, we edit
it and restore it – when we go to pull it out again, it has the most recent
edits and is then edited again.
Dr.
Loftus took this a step further by trying to implant false memories into people’s
brains. She would literally misinform her subjects to see if they would recall
the misinformation or another fact which could potentially be validated. More often
than not their recollections revolved around the misinformation they received
and supported what Loftus was testing.
However,
Loftus also argues that psychologists and psychiatrists, authority figures,
etc. can all be at fault for the creation of a false memory. A lot of false
memories occur in court rooms – this could be due to leading questions from the
attorney, leading cues from the “experts,” or psychological trauma from the
event. I think it’s safe to say she’s likely not a fan of hypnosis…
It
is also quite well-known that authority and stress can greatly impact behavior –
and memory as well. Stress can cause people to try to recall at a faster speed
than necessary, it can decrease optimal memory function and cognitive function,
etc. Authority can also lead someone to create false memories because they are
scared of an individual or group or repercussion. It can lead to false memories
as a latch onto a reasoning and understanding – it can lead to false memories
to win over family.
I
have personally experienced the recollection of false memories; on a few
occasions I have brought up a memory to my mother, with very vivid imagery to
the point that I entirely believed I was remembering an event which had
occurred and roughly when it did so occur – however, she was always ready to
let me know if my recollections were accurate or inaccurate and I think close
to 100% of the times I spontaneously recalled information, she was right and I
was wrong (which is really hard to admit – I’ll make sure she doesn’t read this
one =P).
Although
false memories are not something you want to go out of your way to have on
purpose, they are virtually harmless – depending on the people and subject
matter. Sometimes you have no idea, and
sometimes you do. What more can you do but hope you’re right for once?
Kaci,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. This subject fascinates me. Especially the fact that memory is reconstructive. I love it in the video when Loftus compares memory to a Wikipedia page! The fact that we change our memories, but so do other people. I've been studying some of the wrongfully convicted cases handled by the Innocence Project, and in one case, the rape victim positively and confidently identified the defendant, even though he was dark-skinned and had no facial hair, even though her initial description was light skinned and with a mustache. All it took to change her memory was an employee i.d. color photograph of the innocent man in an array of black and white mug shots. She then saw him again an hour later in a live lineup. Police misconduct, anyone? That color photograph was a really bad idea. He was finally exonerated with DNA evidence after serving 15 years. I really think that the public (potential jurors) and the criminal justice system have to be educated about how memory really works– that it's not a recording device– or these kinds of wrongful convictions will continue.
Mary McGovern
Hi Kaci,
ReplyDeleteI found your post to be very interesting and actually can relate to this posting. I too have had the experience of false memories, where people said they never happened. A way though that I believe false memories can in part be explained is that whenever, we retrieve something from long-term memory, the memory changes a little bit. Thusly, making me think that we can completely shape memories to the way we want to think of them as.
Although, there is a lot of psychological research out there regarding false memories, I believe that much more research needs to be done. I believe that we are only at the very beginning of researching this interesting subject.
Nice job!,
Chantal McGovern