False memory really sounds like it should be the title of a drone/doom/post metal song. A guest post by Shawaz Imam.

False memory is the recollection of an event, or the details of an event, that did not occur. Just about everyone in the world has the potential to fall victim to false memory. Dr. Elizabeth Loftus suggests that rather than immediately labeling someone as a liar, it may be more productive to point out the fallibility of memory. Explaining that memory is not nearly as consistently accurate as we think it is may help avert some significant and potentially devastating arguments.
            Memory is a constructive process. When we encode memories, every single detail of the memory is not accurately recorded. Thus, our minds “fill in the blanks” using various processes, all of which typically work quite well, but occasionally lead to the creation of partially or totally false memories – memories of events or details of events that did not occur. Source-monitoring error, the misinformation effect, and confabulation are a few distinct forms of memory errors.

Source-monitoring error is essentially exactly what it sounds like. We attribute the source of a memory to a specific recollected experience, despite that experience not truly being the source of the memory. Source monitoring errors occur when the normal encoding process is disrupted, or when the source-monitoring process is disrupted. Depression, high stress levels, and brain damage to relevant areas are all examples of potentially disruptive factors that can lead to source-monitoring errors. In the false fame experiment, participants are presented with a list of non-famous names. Later, they are presented with the same names as before, in addition to new non-famous and famous names, and they must point out those which are famous. Typically, researchers find that participants will misidentify some of the non-famous names from the initial list as famous names.  This is a source-monitoring error because the participants misidentify the non-famous names as famous, rather than as non-famous names which they read from the initial list.

The misinformation effect is the idea that misleading information presented between the encoding of an event or experience and its subsequent recall can cause impairment in memory. In the original study, researchers Loftus (the same Dr. Elizabeth Loftus I mentioned earlier, in fact), Miller, and Burns showed participants a series of slides, one of which showed a car stopping in front of a yield sign. Afterwards, some participants read a description of what they saying containing misinformation – specifically, that the car stopped in front of a stop sign. Others read accurate descriptions. Those that read inaccurate information were more likely to report seeing a stop sign than those that were not exposed to misinformation.

Confabulation is a memory disturbance. It is the production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world, without the conscious intention to deceive oneself or anyone else. As I mentioned earlier, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus believes that many arguments are caused by a misunderstanding of the difference between confabulation and lying. Confabulation is distinct in that there is no awareness of the inaccuracy of whatever it is the individual believes, while lying is the intentional intent to deceive. 

Photographic Memory : to be real or not to be real, that is the question.

      Often times on the television, we hear about photographic memory (especially if you watch a lot of crime shows, which I might do). One show in particular: Unforgettable. This show is about a female detective who, after experiencing a traumatic event, is incapable of forgetting anything and has a photographic memory.

Is this possible?

      According to Google, Wikihow can teach you how to train your memory into becoming a photographic memory. Ha! You can also go to this website and play "the photographic memory game." I'm not sure to what degree I trust that source either.

     According to Scientific American and Dr. Barry Gordon who teaches neurology and cognitive science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a truly photographic memory has never been shown to exist. Now, just to specify, a truly photographic memory means you are able to navigate your memory similarly to photographs; you can retrieve it from your memory whenever you want to and you can zoom in, zoom out, and  scroll around as you so desire. Although many of us think our memory may be somewhat photographic because we have a stronger ability to remember visual things, this is very common and does not actually constitute a photographic memory. My uncle, who is a detective in Cape Cod, is known for his memory. He has phenomenal recall of dates, crime scenes, evidence, criminals, etc. But outside of work his memory isn't AS strong. He does not have a photographic memory by definition, but he has an extraordinary memory for his field, especially. A phenomenal memory is not out of the question, even in the slightest, but a photographic memory seems to be impossible. What do you think?

      Akira Haraguchi was able to successfully recall the first 83, 431 decimal places of pi. I don't know about you, but I can't get past 3.1415926 without having to look it up. How does Akira not have a photographic memory? He has a phenomenal memory, but still not a photogenic one. Looking through the internet it seems virtually impossible (go ahead, even go to the second page of your Google results) to find any scientifically supported evidence of the existence and possibility of photographic memory... so I guess Wikihow and my game aren't going to be very helpful after all. Sorry about that.

       Not all hope is lost, however! It is totally possible to improve your recall abilities and to turn that average memory of yours into phenomenal. We just have to give up the hyperbole of the photographic memory and recognize it as such - a hyperbole. It is an exaggeration of how good our memories really are (and as you can see in a surplus of posts on this blog - our memory isn't always that great to begin with). I know I am far from having a phenomenal memory, but I am also yet to try out any of these techniques. I'm slightly skeptical, but perhaps one will improve my memory. As college students we could all use some improvement in that area (as could everyone else). I'll have to report back on whether or not any of these techniques work - if I remember!

Until next time, thanks for reading!


References used for this post:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=i-developed-what-appears-to-be-a-ph

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200603/the-truth-about-photographic-memory

True Memories v. False Memories. How can we know the difference?

“One day, we will be able to determine which memories are true, and which memories are false.”

                This question was our debate question. I was on the opposing team for this statement, and I remain on that side. I believe there is far more evidence for this side than for the pro side, and I can show it through scientific support. Elizabeth Loftus, a leading expert in memory and false memories, has been studying memory for 40 years. On multiple occasions, in multiple articles, and even on a TED talk, Loftus supports her claim that “without independent corroboration, little can be done to tell a false memory from a true one.” This is increasingly accurate as we continue to see the flaws with independent corroboration and psychiatrist manipulation; independent corroboration can only be as reliable as often as the person is with them. Very few people can corroborate every memory or be aware of everything that has or has not happened to an individual. Psychiatrists have also, on a surplus of occasions, embedded false memories into their patients, most often of memories of abuse. The ability to embed false memories so easily further complicates the ability to differentiate between the two.

                Biologically and neurologically speaking, the neural patterns are very similar for true and false memories. When it comes to phantom recollection, for example, though it occurs less frequently than false memories, it actually activates the medial temporal lobe in the same way true memories do. The pro side argues that fMRI scans can differentiate between true and false memories based on grey matter in the brain, but this is inaccurate because it is too difficult to differentiate between the two in grey matter because it is so difficult to differentiate between the two in general. German researchers attempted to determine a physiological “tell” to differentiate between the two and after hooking participants up to the machine they concluded that “skin conductance was the only measurement that was sensitive enough to measure.” All this tells us is that people respond physiologically to being hooked up to a machine and participating in a research study; it does not show us anything specific enough to conclude it is related to the relationship between physiological responses and recalling true/false memories.

                False memories can also be equally emotional to true memories. For example, those court cases which revolve around false memories of abuse – those patients often have very strong, emotional, and realistic “memories” of the abuse and when they recall it they do so with those emotions and beliefs. They do not have doubts about the memories they are recalling and genuinely believe them to be true. Another flaw stems from the questionability of true memories in general; even true memories are constructed and reconstructed, not so much a recollection. Loftus delves into this deeper saying, “the process of calling it [a memory] into conscious awareness can change it, and now you’re storing something that’s different.” So if true memories become increasingly more falsified (however accidentally), how will we ever be able to differentiate between the two. If true isn’t always true, what is false?

http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/12/2811.abstract

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929310.400-i-could-have-sworn-why-you-cant-trust-your-memory.html

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2013/09/elizabeth_loftus_interview_false_memory_research_on_eyewitnesses_child_abuse.html

https://webfiles.uci.edu/Loftus/Bernstein_Loftus_TrueFalseMem_POPS09.pdf

False Memories In Different Settings. A guest post by Kyle Luke.

                Eye witness testimony is commonly used in court cases, and they often play a major role in the verdicts.   Whether it is the witness picking someone out of a lineup or stating under oath what they witnessed, memory plays a major role.  With all the emphasis placed on eye witness testimony it is surprising how inaccurate most of the testimonies and statements are.  This is not because the witnesses are purposely lying but because at how horribly unreliable a person’s memory is.  For almost everyone once a memory is encoded it almost instantly starts deteriorating,  it also does not help that each time a memory is recalled it is re-encoded which means the original memory changes a little.  It also is not uncommon for a person to develop false memories especially while being interrogated.  In fact false memories are actually much more common than most people think. 

                A good number of memories that a person has are actually false memories.  Now the difficulty with false memories is that the person who has them strongly believes that they are true.  Actually when Professor Weinstein mentioned how most of our childhood memories were likely to be false memories I was upset as she said we likely would be.  I believe that I have a pretty good memory and I think that all the memories from my childhood actually occurred yet, I know that it is unlikely to be true.  It also may have to do with my source confusion.  For example in my previous blog I mentioned how I was two or three and running around ToonTown, however it is very possible that I remember doing that when I was four or five and the reason that I believe I was younger is that I know I went to Florida every year when I was little.   The event may also be based on a photo that I have seen of myself with my parents in ToonTown.  A strong reason for why I even remember the event is the constant reinforcement I had from continually visiting the same location every year.

                Another memory that I have which is very vivid is my memory of the morning of September 11^th.  I remember sitting at my desk in fourth grade and having my principal walk in go straight to my teacher and whisper something in her ear.  My teacher than grabbed her purse and bolted out of the room.  My principal stayed and took over teaching the class.  I remember wondering what was going on and why several students were getting picked up early.  It was only after my mother picked me up after school ended and turned on the television that I realized something bad had happened.  Being a young fourth grader I could not grasp the situation but I remember just thinking to myself that they could just fix the building or rebuild it and everything would be all right because the police, firefighters, and paramedics were at the scene.  I find it interesting that even though I was young and did not fully grasp the situation I was able to encode what I had seen and my feelings.  I think the reason I was able to encode this was because of how startling it was to see a teacher run and how odd it was.  Another reason may be the guilt I feel that my first thought was not about all the lives that were lost in the event but of the buildings themselves.  Looking back now I feel guilty for even thinking about the building.  Finally possibly the biggest reason I am able to remember this event was because of how many times that I have recalled and discussed this memory.  By doing this I was practicing rehearsal of the event and it is extremely likely that because of this the details about the memory have changed substantially from the actual event.  Yet, whether it happened this way or not I know that this memory will always be with me.  

Please Cue My Memory. A guest post by Natalie Lopez.

Why do some people have better memory than others?

      Let’s say a group of four friends are in the same history class and they have an upcoming midterm to study for. Each of the friends has their own studying technique to help them prep for the exam.

      Friend number 1 (let’s call him Dave): Dave’s method of studying for the exam is repetition, he repeats aloud the study guide until he has it memorized.

      Friend number 2 (Sara) highlights key points in the reading and then looks over her notes within a week of her exam.

      Friend number 3 (Colby) studies while “multitasking,” whether it’s texting friends, watching T.V., or listening to music. He also waits until last minute to cram for an exam.

      Friend number 4 (Alyssa) reads the chapter twice, once for overview and again for clarification. Then she makes flash cards to quiz herself by creating her own questions.

      After exams were over, two of the friends did not do as well. Can you decide which ones?

…

...

     Colby and Sara did not do as well as the others. Studies show that multitasking while studying, cramming, and just reading the chapters are not beneficial study habits. In order to learn new information, it must be encoded in short term memory and then stored in long term memory.

     Let me first start by explaining what short term and long term memory are. Short term memory is any information that the mind processes within the first 30 seconds, after that it is stored away or forgotten. Long term memory is anything after those 30 seconds, for example: an event that occurred the day before that you remember was successfully stored in your long term memory.

     Study habits that can help transform information into long term memory include repetition, combining a concrete image with the word, quizzing yourself on questions that could be asked, repetition, limiting distractions, and trying to fit an environment similar to the one being tested in.

     Using flash cards to study is a good example of memory cues. Memory cues are used to help the person retrieve what is available and what is accessible. A person may not know that they have memory of a certain event in their life until they are given a memory cue.

     An example of a memory cue would be watching a home video of yourself learning to ride your bike. Before seeing this video, you remember learning to ride at age six. The memory cue, which is the home video, helps access the memory that is available that we often forget we had. After seeing the video you then remember that your uncle Joey taught you to ride a bike using your cousin Jeremy’s hand-me-down bike, and that you fell down for a good half hour before you were able to steadily manage the bike on your own.

     It is important to have both short term and long term memory to learn new things. There are many different study techniques that are used to help store information into long term memory. In order to access this memory, often times a memory cue is used to retrieve the information, but often these memory cues go unacknowledged.

Processing & Pools. A guest post by Anna Webber.

    A couple weeks ago in cognitive psychology class, we discussed the process of encoding and retrieving information in our brain. The concept that sparked my interest within this topic of cognitive psychology was the encoding process, more specifically, the levels of processing. The level of processing theory refers to how memory depends on how the information is encoded: the “deeper.” the better. Craik and Lockhart’s level of processing theory focuses on the depth of processing, which is categorized amongst shallow processing and deep processing. 

    Immediately after hearing this way of processing information, I thought of a kiddie swimming pool and a large in-ground swimming pool. I thought of these two things because when we encode information into our brain it’s very similar to how we experience swimming. Shallow processing involves little attention to meaning, correspondingly to how a kiddie swimming pool is very small with low water levels and requires little attention to what you are even doing. As for deep processing, this involves close attention, focus, and meaning. Swimming in a large, in-ground swimming pool requires you to know how to swim and pay attention to what you are doing, for instance: breathing.

    Encoding information is most effective when deep processing is occurring. By giving information meaning or relating it to yourself, this allows you to create a connection that can trigger memory.  Shallow processing is not as effective due to its lack of interest, if you only recognize the surface of something it is more difficult to determine exactly what you were doing or what you may be trying to remember. I found this topic of encoding by deep processing and shallow processing interesting because I was able to relate it to something that I enjoy doing. Also, this is a really fascinating topic because if you try deep processing while studying for a test, by creating deeper meaning to what you are studying, you can see the difference compared to how you were studying before. 

Wait, so if I buy that..it won't actually do that?! Implicit memory & advertising. A guest post by Sal Schiano.

      In this week’s class sessions we learned about short term and long term memory. Short term memory lasts for 15-30 seconds and has the capacity for 4-9 items. Basically everything after that is long term memory (or forgotten). Long term memory can be broken down into two forms, explicit memory (or conscious) and implicit memory (or not conscious).  Explicit memory is memory you are aware of and can voluntarily report the contents of. Implicit memory is memory you are not aware of and cannot voluntarily report the contents of. What fascinates me more is implicit memory. The fact that we can have a skill without being able to explain how we learned it or that we are able to do something without thinking is so interesting.

     Large companies have already tapped into this knowledge just as our representatives in congress have. What they do is use the information about implicit memory such as priming, as well as procedural and classical conditioning, to influence our consumerism decisions and our voter decisions. Companies pay for air, television, billboard, internet, etc. to advertise their product. This is similar to politicians paying for advertising time during election season to promote themselves.

     What companies do in these advertisements is not weigh the costs and benefits of you purchasing their product and how it will affect your bank account (though in some cases they may), but what they are actually doing is presenting their product with a certain stimulus to condition us into thinking that their product causes that stimulus or vice versa. They want us to believe in a relationship that they are presenting.

     There are many examples of this everyday but one stands out, the “Axe deodorant” advertising campaign. If men use their product they will more easily attract female mates.

      Now, what they want to have you thinking is that (↑) will happen to you if you wear the axe product, and it works. While fascinatingly enough revealing little to nothing about the quality, content or even price of their product.

      Similar to companies, political campaigns have made use of our brains doing most of the work for them. For example during the 2004 campaign for president between John Kerry and George W. Bush, GW mentioned terrorism at almost every chance he had. The reason for this was to get voters to associate fighting terrorism with George W. Bush and when this is conducted to a mass of people who ultimately know nothing about the facts of current affairs or the history and actual decisions of policy makers, it is very effective.

      Advertising also makes use of the propaganda effect, the effect that we are more likely to rate statements that we’ve read or heard before as being true, because we have been exposed to them. So for example: when Coors Light advertises their beer as being the “coldest” with mountains on them that turn blue when they’re cold- eventually after hearing this so much we are more likely to believe that Coors has the coldest beer, even though rationally this makes no sense because your beer is only as cold as you allow it to be (or as strong as your refrigerator is). We come to believe what they tell us and we are not even aware of it - that is the magic of implicit memory.