Thursday, April 15, 2010
False Memory: "The Power of Suggestion: How to Implant False Memories"
How scary is it that someone can make you bring back a memory that you don't even remember experiencing? The main study asked people if they've ever been lost as a child, and while this is common, most said they weren't lost until Loftus began telling them that she spoke to their parents who stated they had been lost. This idea of false memory is true because there was another study made where 26 percent of the participants in the experiment were completely convinced that they had been a victim of a vicious animal attack while another 30 percent partially believed it. Animal attacks aren't as common as being lost in a mall, but people still remembered it happening to them. Does this mean that people may not trust what they think happened in their past and have memory of it happening even though it may not be true? If so, this is a scary idea. Relating this to a different topic, would this also mean that people who are trialed in an intense court case about a situation tell the truth, or simply recall false memory because of how overwhelming the situation was? Studies like these symbolize that although you remember something, it doesn't necessarily mean that's the way it occurred, or that it even happened. This can make people question their own memory and wonder whether it really happened, or was it merely a figment of their imagination. What do you think?
(Youtube Video: False Memory-The Power of Suggestion)
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This is definitely an interesting topic - though I like to think that most of my childhood memories are for the most part based in fact. This video makes me wonder if perhaps the subjects tested had some memory(ies) somewhere inside of them with some aspect(s) similar to the false memory that they were essentially being asked to reconstruct and if they could've just recalled those aspects and then "filled in the blanks" so to speak with what the researchers were telling them other people who shared in the memory remembered. For example: I remember spilling a cup of juice on my mother at dinner when I was 5; I remember going to a wedding when I was younger; I remember having an accident for which I was punished at a public event when I was younger, ergo I must have been punished for spilling a cup of punch on so-and-so's parents at a wedding. Do you think this borrowing effect, so to speak, could be a possible explanation? Or is man just "infinitely malleable" (Orwell, 1984)?
ReplyDeleteInteresting point Joseph. I think that the borrowing effect is often used when it comes to memory. Just the other day i recalled a time where i was in elementry school and i had to do the infamous "rope climb." My roomate began to state how she did that as well. Later on she told me that her statement was not true. The rope climbing was something that she had seen in a movie during her child hood, but she surprisingly believed it was something that she had done.I think that is a good example of the borrowing effect. Right?
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