The Malleability of Memory by Howard Burton

Author:Howard Burton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychology
Publisher: Open Agenda Publishing
Published: 2020-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Questions for Discussion:

Do you think that some people might be more resistant to the implantation of false memories than others?

Might there be a statistical link between those who are susceptible to the implantation of false memories and other mental techniques and practices, such as hypnotism?

VI. Confirmation

Extensive reproducibility

EL: Before we even published this work, the critics came out to attack it. The therapists could see where we were going. Right away, they said, “Getting lost is so common. At least show us that you can plant a false memory for something that would’ve been more unusual, more bizarre, than simply getting lost in a shopping mall.”

So I, and others, set to doing just that.

A group in Tennessee, using a similar methodology, planted a false memory that you nearly drowned and had to be rescued by a lifeguard. A group in Canada planted a false memory that, as a child, you were attacked by a vicious animal. Another group planted a false memory that you had an accident at a family wedding as a child: you spilled punch on the parents of the bride. And I, in collaboration with an Italian colleague, planted a false memory that you witnessed a person being demonically possessed. These very rich false memories were now being planted in research laboratories around the world.

HB: But I bet that didn’t assuage the critics. I bet that only made them more tenacious.

EL: Yes. The next criticism was, “This is a very strong form of suggestion: ‘I talked to your mother and your mother told me these things happened’. We in psychotherapy don’t say ‘I was there. I saw it happen’. We weren’t there in the early lives of our current patients.”

So we then began to try other techniques for planting false memories, things that were modelled after what was going on in psychotherapy, like “guided imagination.”

In these court cases I would see treating therapists saying things like, “You know, you have all the symptoms of somebody who was sexually abused. Did something like this happen?” The patient says, “No, not me.” Then they’d respond, “Well, why don’t you just close your eyes and think about who might have abused you. When might this have happened? How old might you have been?”

What is this guided imagination exercise doing to people, especially people whom these things never happened to? Together with others, we did some studies where we essentially showed that guided imagination can lead to false memories.

HB: Are the percentages roughly the same throughout these experiments? You mentioned that a quarter of subjects in the “lost in the mall” scenario demonstrated false memories. Was it roughly the same for these other scenarios: demonic possession, vicious animal attack, and so forth, or do the numbers fall off considerably?

EL: Well, the “nearly drowned and had to be rescued” scenario, that was about a third.

HB: Really? Wow.

EL: The Canadian study—the “attacked by a vicious animal” scenario, or “having had a serious indoor or outdoor accident” scenario—they were succeeding with about half of their subjects.

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