Theories Of False Memory
False memories
Repressed memories are often recovered in therapy. The issue with treating a repressed memory that was recovered during therapy as contingent for a court case is that there is no way to prove that the therapy did not falsely construct the memory, leading to a false memory. A false memory can be misinterpreted as a repressed memory if the individual, for instance, feels a lot of emotion towards the false memory; “victims may experience ‘denial,’ an unconscious defense against painful or unbearable memories and feelings about the crime” (“How Crime Victims React to Trauma”). However, it is important to note that just because a “memory might be false does not mean that the person is deliberately lying” (Loftus, 1993, p. 525). False memories can be created unintentionally by the unconscious: or another way to explain how a memory can be constructed in therapy and believed to be truly recovered, one can look to false memory theories of “associative activation” and “thematic consistency” (Gallo, 2006, p. 51-53).
Associative activation “refers to the activation of concepts stored in semantic memory due to the processing of other concepts found at the same conceptual level” (Gallo, 2006, p. 51); in other words, one scenario activates another scenario. According to this theory, if the activation of a concept is strong enough it becomes believable, and furthermore, one can begin to believe it happened to them. That is, simple association can trigger a false memory. An
Troy Davis Case
736 Words | 3 PagesResearch provided by the Innocence Project shows that Hundreds of people are accused of crimes they have never committed just because of eyewitness testimony and factors which distorted memory. Can we even trust our memory after knowing so many innocent people have been convicted? Coming back to the question: How does crime affect memory? Looking at the studies of Ronald Cotton and Bennett Barbour, they tell us that crime distorts the memory of a victim. In both cases, the victim identified the wrong person as their assailant.
Analysis Of Elizabeth Loftus Memory In Canadian Courts Of Law
851 Words | 4 PagesShe mentions that these “dangerous” memories are presented in legal cases and explains her part in two of which she was apart of. In the first case, the photos of Thomas Sohponow who was mistakenly identified as the murderer of a young woman during the identification process were arrayed simultaneously rather than sequentially giving witnesses an easier target. This practice is not reliable as it allows witnesses to easily be persuaded by their naïve “memories” of a person and unfortunately in his case resulted in four years in prison. The second case Michael Kliman who was an elementary school teacher was accused of molesting a 6th grade student based on “repressed memories”. After two decades the student who “recovered” her memories laid charges on Kliman, which makes the case questionable since it could be difficult to justify the validity of a “repressed memory”.
Summary Of Some Close Encounters Of A Mental Kind By Stephen Gould
1139 Words | 5 PagesThe human brain is the most extraordinary thing in the universe but sometimes we create false memories without knowing. The human brain consists of a hundred billion neurons, as many as the entire Milky Way galaxy (“Voytek”). It stores numerous memories from childhood to the present. The majority of us, however,
Serial Evidence Against Adnan Syed: Case Study
447 Words | 2 PagesHowever, reading the article titled ‘The Psychology of “Serial” it talks about “the fog of memory” and inconsistent accounts given or provided by the individuals that are involved in this case. This article proves that as time progresses the human brain becomes less reliable. As shown above, having false memories happen as a result of the brain being able to fabricate a scene or a story that never occurred. As a matter of fact, I have no recollection experiencing any form of false memory throughout my entire life and i haven’t been a victim of another person’s false memory. Nevertheless, it is important to be conscious of the potentials of the mind being filled with details that may not have actually occurred.
How Does Loftus Study False Memories
423 Words | 2 PagesIt is unlikely that social consequences of false memories can be avoided. Elizabeth Loftus was intrigued to study false memories, and is perhaps personally responsible for subsequent developments throughout the history of false memories. Some of this history addresses various theories aimed at isolating how or why false memories occur. These include Source Monitoring Framework, Activation Monitoring Theory, Fuzzy Trace Theory, and strategies for persuasion which can lead to the development of false memory. Such persuasion leads to the present discussion concerning how persuasion in the judicial system has created false confessions and wrongful eyewitness testimonies, due to the Misinformation Effect.
Analysis Of The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls
854 Words | 4 PagesMost people have many core memories that didn’t even happen to them but instead happened on a TV show or movie they watched. This leads to many awkward situations when people talk about their life stories and people seem to remember that same event on a TV show they had watched. This remembrance of an event that never happened could be due to many factors. A study performed by Northwestern University concluded that “Every time you remember an event from the past, your brain networks change in ways that can alter the later recall of the event. Thus, the next time you remember it, you might recall not the original event but what you remembered the previous time” ( Paul ).
How Does The Law Treat Repressed Memories
673 Words | 3 PagesJohnson states that according to the APA, “it is not possible to distinguish repressed memories from false ones without corroborating evidence” (par. 2). This brings up a critical issue how could the jury decide if a memory was false or a repressed one that was eventually remembered. According to Johnson, the three stages of memory are encoding, Consolidation/Storage, and retrieval (par. 3) An error at any stage of the memory process can lead to the creation of false memories (par. 4). Johnson suggests that under extremely traumatic events false memories have a significant chance of being formed.
Wrongful Convictions Research Paper
301 Words | 2 PagesThere are many factors that contribute to a wrongful conviction. Eyewitness misidentification is the greatest cause. The mind is not a tape recorder; it does not record events exactly as it’s seen. Sometimes the witness or victim would choose the wrong person at photo arrays and lineups. The memory of a witness in a crime scene is like any other evidence it must be preserved carefully.
Nonabused Children Essay
761 Words | 4 PagesThere is a lack of generalizability of many of the studies across all spectrums of children, particularly in regards to socioeconomic backgrounds that also play a factor in developmental delays outside of abuse (Krackow & Lynn, 2003). Child witness research has lacked studies on the strengths and weaknesses of abused children while instead focusing on nonabused children who may create false allegations (Eisen, et al., 1998). While this research may provide insight into how nonabused children may present false memories upon interrogation, it does not further information on how abused children respond under interrogation and how best to assist them in the legal process to protect them. Current research is often conflicting on whether or not abused children are more or less likely to confuse nonabusive events with abusive ones and abused children to have a higher rate of accepting abuse-related suggestions that lead to false memories (Pezdek & Roe, 1994,
Witness For The Defense Elizabeth Loftus
1447 Words | 6 PagesPart One is very informational and contains the bulk of the book’s research. The information was presented in a thesis format; Loftus stated a claim and then supported her ideas with research and quotations from experts in the field of law and memory. Part One is helpful for psychologists, attorneys, and interested law people. The major principles concerning the errors in eyewitness testimony are supported by research and are accepted by psychologists (Kassin, Ellsworth, & Smith, 1989). Part One will contribute to the future of psychology by showcasing how the memory works and the different ways it is manipulated and changed: this will allow jurors and lawyers to become more wary when dealing with a traumatized
The Importance Of Flashbulb Memories
300 Words | 2 Pagesmemories the method can be used in psychological institutions, to help those whom are traumatized to stifle the memory and prevent it from affecting their future behaviors. Additionally, a better grasp of how memory, is encoded or lost will provide better aid to those with disabilities linked with memory. Flashbulb memories are defined as memories of emotionally significant events that people usually remember with more vivid details and accuracy than normal events (King, 2013). Psychologists Lanciano, Curci, and Semin (2010) conducted two studies investigating the accuracy and the amount of details remember of flashbulb memories, in which they determined those placed under stressful and highly emotional conditions do in fact recall the event
Eyewitness Misidentification
1297 Words | 6 PagesAre You Sure? Why have more than two-thousand people exonerated for crimes they didn’t commit? Eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the U.S. Memory can be influenced by anxiety, stress, reconstructive memory and other factors possibly affecting the testimony of the eyewitness and in turn, misleading the jury. I think that when subjects witness a crime they will struggle to remember important details of the event, and their recollection could be easily altered. This is because the reconstructive memory can be influenced by factors such as stress, anxiety, and verbal cues.
Rhetorical Analysis Of Scott Fraser
1835 Words | 8 PagesIntroduction “Of what use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example of good or of evil?” (Alfred de Vigny). Memory encodes various pieces of information that can be utilized in an enormous amount of situations to benefit people. However, memory is also fallible. It alters and creates new memories, changing the original encoded data for unknown reasons.
The Vow Analysis
1153 Words | 5 PagesFunctional or psychogenic amnesia is caused by an emotional shock such as being the victim of a brutal crime, sexual abuse and child abuse. Fundamentally, any unbearable life event that causes extreme psychological stress and internal dispute could be the cause of functional or psychogenic
Causes Of Amnesia
830 Words | 4 PagesAmnesia is the general term for a condition in which memory either stored memories or the process of committing something to memory is disturbed or lost. Amnesia may result either from organic or neurological causes or damage to the brain through physical injury, neurological disease or the use of certain drugs. It could also come from functional or psychogenic causes such as mental disorder, post-traumatic stress or psychological defense mechanisms. Many kinds of amnesia are associated with damage to the hippocampus and related areas of the brain which are used in the encoding, storage and retrieval of memories. If there is a blockage in the pathways along which information travels during the processes of memory encoding or retrieval, or if
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