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Sophie Lam
Remembering something from the past is like re-experiencing the little fragments of our own history. Scientists sometimes refer to this as ‘mental time travel’. False memory is a wide term which can describe a range of memory errors, ranging from people remembering events differently from the way they happened to remembering events that never happened at all. Decades of research have shown that our memories can be altered either by other people or our minds, in fact, scientists have come to the conclusion, that it’s not hard to implant false memories into our brain. False memories can be held with high confidence, so it can be quite difficult to convince people that their memory is distorted. Our memories aren’t going to stay intact forever, new information, suggestions and ideas can enter our mind, and distort or contaminate our memories. Psychologists have studied false memories in laboratory situations and have concluded that there are a few factors which are responsible for creating false memories.
Inaccurate perception is a factor that can cause false memories. Sometimes, the information is not encoded correctly in the first place. For example, the person did not get a clear view (in the dark, from a distance). False memories can be created through suggestion and association with long term memory. When trying to retrieve childhood memories and experiences, people tend to treat their parents as powerful authority figures. However, our parents may not always remember every single detail, so some memories that they remember may be false memories. When you’re talking about a memory in the past to someone, they might ask questions like “are you sure” or “did that really happen”, which can challenge the accuracy of your memory.
False memories are very difficult to differ from real and accurate memories, as they don’t stand out from our other memories. Even our most vivid and clear memory can be an illusion. However, researchers have identified some strategies that can help reduce the risk of false memories forming or help us distinguish the true memories from the false ones. Their research concludes that if we create a visual representation of the information in our brains, we are more likely to remember it, and the information is less likely to turn into a false memory. Another way we can confirm our memories is by evaluating and corroborating our memories. You would think of a memory and evaluate it based on your expectations, and then corroborate with other people’s memory, and this can help verify or disprove it. Although, other people’s memory may not be accurate either.
Some researchers have argued that we can use false memories to its benefit, as studies have shown that people can intentionally plant false memories in your head for us to stick to healthy behaviours. For example, researchers can create a false memory by suggesting that people had become ill after eating certain foods. Subsequently, we would change our behaviours and attitudes, because of the false memories that were implanted in us. Some researchers have suggested that we can use deception to implant false memories to create positive behaviour changes such as eating a more balanced diet or exercising more. This technique might also be able to help treat psychological traumas.
Most of our false memories are harmless, as they are just shifts and reconstructions of memory that don’t align with the true events. However, some false memories can have serious consequences, including in court or legal settings, where false memories can convict someone wrongfully, resulting innocent people being put in jail.
Research has shown that everyone is susceptible of false memories, even people with exceptionally good memory. However, there are groups of people who are more likely to develop false memories than others. It is also concluded that age is a big factor of the development of false memories. As both people and memory age, details about some memories may be lost. As people age, their brains change in various ways, they experience a decreased blood flow to the brain, which can impair memory, so they tend to produce more false memories than others. This is why we are encouraged to exercise our minds frequently, but false memories can happen to anyone, even those around you, so there isn’t really a way to avoid producing them.
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