Recovered Memories And False Memories

The study of creation of false memories has been a topic of interest since the 1930s when Bartlett (1932) conducted the first experiment on the topic. Though the results of this experiment were never replicated, they contributed greatly to research by distinguishing between reproductive and reconstructive memory (Bartlett 1932 as cited in Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Reproductive memory refers to accurate production of material from memory and is assumed to be associated with remembering simplified materials (e.g., lists). Reconstructive memory emphasizes the active process of filling in missing elements while remembering and is associated with materials rich in meaning (e.g., stories).

The sudden recovery of repressed memories from a traumatic event such as childhood sexual abuse can be both validating and confusing for clients that are seeking help with various problems. These new memories might be able to help client identify the cause of their feelings and issues that are affecting their life. However for others it can be a very difficult time because of the conflicting emotions about the abuser. Worst of all when dealing with the recovery of repressed memories they may be all together false. The accuracy of recovered memories in regards to sexual abuse is low and can come with significant consequences. These false memories can be very harmful to the client as

False memories are an apparent recollection of an event that did not actually occur. The reason why false memories happen are due to the fact that one's brains can only handle so much.There has been several experiment pertaining to the phenomenon, to find how it works.In the next part of the experiment the psychologist showed the participants a word list.False memories are very common and can happen to anyone. On very rare occasions false memories can be harmful to someone and the people around them.False memories are so common that they affect all of a person's memories. False memories can be made more clear by others memories or they could become more distorted. False memories have caused many wrongful convictions. A psychologist

False memories have been studied science the early 1990’s because they have become controversial topic. In the beginning they was no thought that your memory would be unfaithful and that if you had a memory that you “recovered” it had to be true because your memory couldn’t fail you. Could it? Well one woman’s disbelief caused her, Susan Clancy, who was a Harvard University graduate student at the time decided that while everyone else was arguing over the accuracy of recovered memories, she would create a study on them (Grierson 1). Clancy first started out by interviewing her subjects that said to have recovered memories of abuse after they had gone through therapy. The stories were horrifying but she was brought up to believe that what they were telling her was true. But, soon after she found herself wondering if they had even really went through these events that they “recovered”. When she spoke out against the recovered memory patients saying that they couldn’t of forgotten such a traumatic memory and that they had created a false memory by going to the therapy the hate mail started coming in (Grierson 3). Throughout this time many other scientists started to do more and more research on false memories and most of the studies have concluded with the same information. “The false memory researchers point to other research showing that traumatic events are normally remembered all too well. They argue that

When people think of memory repression, people think of child sexual abuse scandals, parental abuse, traumatic injuries, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Memory repression is thought by some to be a defense mechanism of the brain in the event of extreme distress. The memory of the event is pushed back into the corners of the unconscious, and is only recovered after a long period of time has passed. According to the American Psychological Association, both memory researchers and clinicians who work with trauma victims agree that memory can be forgotten and then remembered, and a ‘memory’ can be suggested and remembered as true (APA, n.d.). However, some believe this is not the case. Instead, they believe that these repressed memories are the result of over-eager therapists planting ideas in their clients’ heads. In a recent study, Harrsion Pope tried to find a case of memory repression in works of fiction and nonfiction prior to 1800, and didn’t find any cases which matched their definition of a repressed memory. They concluded from this that “the phenomenon is not a natural neurological function, but rather a ‘culture-bound’ syndrome rooted in the nineteenth century” (Pettus, 2008). Memory repression is an extremely controversial subject in the field of psychology. Further research into this topic could lead to better treatments for patients

Repressed memories is yet another controversial psychology topic, one that may lead to different explanations based on the opinion of different experts. The reality is that there can be more than one explanation on a per case basis. As American Psychology Association suggests memories can be forgotten and remembered or it can be suggested and remembered as true, moreover the latter seems to be much more common than the actual retrieval of accurate forgotten memories. I have focused my research on two articles from Harvard University, one trying to understand and validate repressed memories through a word study on dissociative memory and the other trying to disprove it by researching and looking for cues of repressed memories on works of fiction and nonfiction.

Myth number 13 state that people repress memories of traumatic experiences. The text talks about the controversy in the pasts years in what really happens to the repress memory. In this myth, the idea of people’s not being able to report an event is not necessarily that they forgot the memory or even repressed it. It also argues that the belief of repress memory “seems to be a relatively recent product of our cultural dating from 19th century” (page 5, paragraph 2). Moreover, the text challenges the believe of repress memory existing as a method that our minds to repress traumas. Instead, it highlights that what we adopted as “repress memory” can be also interpret with other causes other than our minds putting away painful memories.

In all the discussions and lessons on memory this week, a somewhat shocking bit of information I found to be an “Aha!” moment was the idea of reconstructed memory. This idea is found in the Ted Talk by Scott Fraser, where he explains, “With no requirement for any kind of motivated processing, the brain fills in information that was not there, not originally stored, from inference, from speculation, from sources of information that came to you, as the observer, after the observation.” He continues, “But it happens without awareness, such that you aren't even cognizant of it occurring”. (Fraser, 2012) This came as a shock to me as, in my 30 odd years of memory and cognitive thought, did I ever think I was capable of remembering something I personally

There are two prominent distortions of the episodic memory system: forgetting and the false memory effect. False memory is the propensity to report an event as part of an episodic experience that was not actually present (Holliday, Brainerd, & Reyna, 2011). Several theories give an explanation for this effect, but the most prominent one is the fuzzy trace theory,

Repressed Memories The argument for repressed memories can go either way in that being that people believe in them are people do not believe in them. So what exactly are repressed memories? Repressed memories are recollections that have been unknowingly blocked because of the memory being related with a high level of stress or injury.

Do you think an experience can be so traumatizing that the brain pushes it into an inaccessible corner of the unconscious to later recall it years later? This concept on the mind is expressed as repressed memories. These are types of memories that are blocked unconsciously due to the high levels of stress experienced during the event. This theory on memories are based on the idea that even though the memory is repressed it is still affecting the individual in their conscious aspects of life. Repressed memories are often associated with childhood sexual abuse. This relies on the idea that these memories of sexual abuse can be brought up either in therapy or by the victim themselves years after the abuse. The concept of repressed memories has been a huge controversy in psychology from the beginning of time. Many people believe that repressed memories in regards to childhood sexual abuse are possible while others believe they can’t be as accurate as some people believe.

The two concepts that I resonated with are Memory and the Psychodynamic theory. Starting with the Psychodynamic theory is an approach to psychology that studies the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions, and how they may relate to early childhood experience. This theory is most closely associated with the work of Sigmund Freud, and with psychoanalysis, a type of psychotherapy that attempts to explore the patient’s unconscious thoughts and emotions so that the person is better able to understand him or herself. The second one is Memory; understanding how memory works will help you improves your memory. Which is an essential key to attaining knowledge. Memory is one of the important cognitive processes. Memory involves remembering and forgetting. I chose the two concepts because throughout the class they stood out to the most. Understanding the conscious, subconscious mind and also memory. I’m interested in understanding the human behavior.

False Memories are fundamentally, unintended human errors, which results in people having memories of events and situations that did not actually occur. It’s worth noting that in humans there are both true and false memories, these false memories occur when a mental experience is incorrectly taken to be a representation of a past event. For example, when people are asked to describe something that happened at a particular time, people rarely deliver accurate answers. Based on research, in eyewitness testimony, the confidence people show while recalling

Memory does not work like a video camera, smoothly recording every detail. Instead, memory is more of a constructive process. We remember the details that we find most important and relevant. Due to the reconstructive nature of memory, the assimilation of old and new information has the ability to cause vulnerable memories to become distorted. This is also known as the misinformation effect (Loftus, 1997). It is not uncommon for individuals to fill in memory gaps with what they assume they must have experienced. We not only distort memories for events that we have observed, but, we may also have false memories for events that never occurred at all. False memories are “often created by combing actual memories with suggestions received from

Memory facilitates necessary functions in daily life activities, but it is not a perfect mechanism in operation. Goldstein (2011) states that memory is, “…the process involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present” (p.116). There are many adaptive functions within the complexities of the human memory system and the interlinked constructs between each function leave room for doubt in the accuracy of recollection. Study of the human mind has opened avenues of discovery on the inner workings of our brains and the resulting knowledge suggests that humans are prone to creating false memories and even remembering things that never actually happened. A great deal of information has been written explaining the nature of memory errors and within the following pages a real-life case offers a glimpse into how recall distortions and memory errors can wield unpleasant consequences. Memory errors can be avoided with a significant effort, but the truth remains that no one is perfect and memories are subject to individual bias.