Chapter 1. Creating False Memories: A Laboratory Study

Short Description

Is it possible we could have a memory of a vivid childhood event, say, a hot-air balloon ride, that never occurred?

Long Description

Psychologists at Victoria University have demonstrated that such false memories can be readily implanted in research participants by showing them digitally altered photographs. In the research, thirty college students view pictures of their childhood in a study that they believe is about how we reminisce. In fact, the study assesses the fallibility of memory.

When Jessica is first shown a false photograph of a hot-air balloon ride that she presumably had as a child, she reports having no memory of it. However, by the end of the week, she believes she had been on such a balloon ride, something that never occurred.

Psychologist, MaryAnne Garry, describes the study in detail. Each research participant is presented four photographs from their childhood. In each case, the third photograph, showing the participant with family members in a hot-air balloon, is fake. In the course of the week the participants are interviewed three times about the photographs. By the end of the week, many of the students believe they have been on a hot-air balloon ride. Even those who do not remember the ride, believe the photo is real.

Over the course of the week, the research participants are instructed not to speak to family members about the study. However, they are instructed to think about the photos every night. By the end of the week, many of the students have enriched their recall of the experience with imagined details that surrounded the balloon ride.

The findings suggest that memories are not exact copies of our past experience but reconstructions of our past; even memories that are vivid, detailed, and of which we are confident are not necessarily accurate. When people are told that their memories of the balloon ride are false, they express surprise and sometimes even fear. We typically have a great deal of faith that our memories are reliable and learning that they are not can be unsettling.

Questions