Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Formation of
false memories
- Memory?
- Memory is your mind's storehouse, the reservoir of your accumulated
learning. The persistence of learning over time is through storage and
retrieval.
Anmerkungen:
- Retroactive interference : It occurs when new learning or new information interferes with you ability to recall what you learned earlier.
- AIM
- 1. To understand how we get
tricked (memory distortion) by
revised data about a witnessed
event
- 2. Can a false memory be implanted?
- SAMPLE
- 24 participants - (3M, 21F) recruited by the university
of Washington students
- A pair of individuals - subject and subjects
relative (who had knowledge about the
childhood events of the subject)
- MATERIAL
- 5 page booklet - cover letter with
instructions for completing the booklet and
schedule for interviews
- 4 SHORT STORIES - 3 true events (provided by
the relative) and 1 false event about child
getting lost. Single Paragraphs about each
event , remaining pages blank for Participants to
reproduce memory
- ORDER OF EVENTS
WAS SAME - False
event always on 3rd
position
- PROCEDURE
- SUBJECT'S RELATIVE was interviewed to obtain
3 events that happened to the subject between 4
to 6 years of age. NOT TO BE FAMILY FOLKLORE
OR TRAUMATIC EVENTS. information about a
plausible shopping trip was obtained (where they
usually shpped when subject was 5 yrs old, who
went along, which store attracted the subject's
attention and verification that subject was not lost
in a mall at the age of 5)
- Features of the false event : 1. lost for an extended period, 2.
Crying, 3. lost in a mall at the age of 5, 4. found and aided by an
elderly woman, 5. reunited with family.
- Subject told the study is
about childhood memories
and how and why people
remember some and not
others
- Told to read and write anything they
remember about each event - if not
remembered write "i dont remember this",
booklet mailed back
- SUBJECTS CALLED AND
SCHEDULED FOR 2 INTERVIEWS
Anmerkungen:
- 1st interview - 1 or 2 weeks after the reciept of the booklet
2nd interview- 1 or 2 weeks after the 1st interview
interviewers - 2 females
- 1ST INTERVIEW - REMINDED OF EACH EVENT, ASKED TO RECALL AS MUCH AS THEY COULD. 2.
Rated their clarity on a scale of 1-10, 3. Rated their confidence on a 5 point scale, that if given more
time they would remember. Same for 2nd interview
- After the 2nd interview - DEBRIEFED AND ASKED TO
CHOOSE WHICH OF THE 4 EVENTS WAS FALSE.
- RESULTS
- MEMORY FOR EVENTS
- TRUE EVENTS - 49/ 72 (68%) were
remembered in the booklet, constant for 1st and
2nd interview
- FALSE EVENT - 7/24 partially or fully
remembered, in the 1st interview it dropped to
6/24, which was held constant in the 2nd
interview
- Number of words used to describe memories
- True memories - 138.0
- False memory - 49.9
- Clarity ratings for events
- True events - 6.3 (constant for
both interviews)
- False event - 2.8 in 1st
interview, 3.6 in 2nd interview
- Confidence ratings for events
- True events - 2.7 in 1st interview, 2.2 in 2nd
- False event - 1.8 in 1st interview,
1.4 in 2nd
- when asked to choose false event after debriefing
- 19/24 correctly chose the false event as getting lost
- CONCLUSION
- 1. People can be lead to believe entire events happen to them after
suggestions to that effect - existance proof for the phenomenon of false
memory information. 2. Memory can be altered via suggestion . 3.
- Advantages and Disadvantages
- 1.Experiment - High level of control, standardized
procedures for all participants. 2. Ecological validity is
high - False event made believable, cannot be easily
identified (little chance of demand characteristics) and all
memories were real world scenarios 3. Interview -
quantitative and qualitative data - objective and rich data
obtained. 4. Ethics - debriefing and confidentiality.
5.Usefulness and Application.
- Usefulness and Application
- 1. Sample - unrepresentative. 2.False memory was a
common situation, participants could have been recalling
that memory. 3. Ethics - Deception and there could have
been harm done to the participants (mentally).
4.Questionnaire - could be untruthful and call relatives to
verify.