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Remembering Something That Never Happened MIT scientists investigate memories
Anyone who watches TV courtroom dramas knows that memory can't be trusted. Eyewitnesses believe that their recall is complete and perfect, but in truth, memories are, at best, sensory and emotional impressions blurred by imagination, belief, ambiguity, and time. As convincing as juries may find the testimony of witnesses, good prosecutors know that human memory is, more often than not, the least reliable source of evidence.
That's true for several reasons. For one, attitudes and beliefs can affect the memories we form. Scientists at Cornell University told college students a story about a man who walked out on a restaurant bill. Half the participants were told that the man "was a jerk who liked to steal." Half were told that the man left without paying because he received an emergency phone call. “One week later the people who were told he was a jerk remembered a higher bill--from 10 to 25 percent more than the bill actually was. Those who were told he had an emergency phone call remembered a slightly lower-than-actual bill,” says investigator David Pizarro. “Negative evaluations,” he concludes, “are capable of exerting a distorting effect on memory."
It is even possible to remember something that never really happened. In one experiment, researchers showed volunteers images and asked them to imagine other images at the same time. Later, many of the volunteers recalled the imagined images as real. Using fMRI, the researchers were able to determine which parts of the brain formed the false memories and which formed the real ones. “We think parts of the brain used to actually perceive an object and to imagine an object overlap,” says Northwestern University scientist Kenneth Paller. “Thus, the vividly imagined event can leave a memory trace in the brain that’s very similar to that of an experienced event.”
The memory trace is, of course, chemical. Memories are stored with the formation of particular proteins in the brain. Each time a memory is recalled, the proteins can be reformed or modified. How this process works is a research question of great interest to neuroscientists. This week, researchers affiliated with a project at MIT reported a giant step toward explaining how external stimuli can distort mental representations to produce brand new, seemingly accurate—but completefalse—memories.... https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-sense/201307/remembering-something-never-happened
That's true for several reasons. For one, attitudes and beliefs can affect the memories we form. Scientists at Cornell University told college students a story about a man who walked out on a restaurant bill. Half the participants were told that the man "was a jerk who liked to steal." Half were told that the man left without paying because he received an emergency phone call. “One week later the people who were told he was a jerk remembered a higher bill--from 10 to 25 percent more than the bill actually was. Those who were told he had an emergency phone call remembered a slightly lower-than-actual bill,” says investigator David Pizarro. “Negative evaluations,” he concludes, “are capable of exerting a distorting effect on memory."
It is even possible to remember something that never really happened. In one experiment, researchers showed volunteers images and asked them to imagine other images at the same time. Later, many of the volunteers recalled the imagined images as real. Using fMRI, the researchers were able to determine which parts of the brain formed the false memories and which formed the real ones. “We think parts of the brain used to actually perceive an object and to imagine an object overlap,” says Northwestern University scientist Kenneth Paller. “Thus, the vividly imagined event can leave a memory trace in the brain that’s very similar to that of an experienced event.”
The memory trace is, of course, chemical. Memories are stored with the formation of particular proteins in the brain. Each time a memory is recalled, the proteins can be reformed or modified. How this process works is a research question of great interest to neuroscientists. This week, researchers affiliated with a project at MIT reported a giant step toward explaining how external stimuli can distort mental representations to produce brand new, seemingly accurate—but completefalse—memories.... https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-sense/201307/remembering-something-never-happened
"Each time a memory is recalled, the proteins can be reformed or modified". This explains why sometimes when you witness things with other people, the story is not the same as you remember it. It's not that anyone is purposely lying it's can be the memory has been subconsciously modified. Over a period of time, their version and mine can be so modified, it' like two different events. I wish I could find the link that points out that now Psychologist is divided on the reliability of repressed memories.
1 Comments
It's a matter of how we perceive things. It's a known fact that 5 people can see the same incident and chances are all 5 of them will see something slightly different and some people may see something completely different. That's because we all perceive things differently.
You might see someone with blond hair but I see the hair as black; you see the shirt as green and I see it as blue. You hear the person yell and I can barely hear what they say. You perceive them as running and I see them as just walking.
Neither one of us is lying and we aren't even "wrong"; we simply didn't see exactly the same thing... I saw it from a different angle than you did or the light was different or we simply didn't perceive the same things to be the same.
I think it is possible for some people to change things in their memory... I know people who have gone through things with me in the past and when they tell about the incident now, they don't tell it anything like it really happened. Sometimes, they're simply stretching the truth but other times, they really believe they're telling it as it happened, but it was altogether different.
I do believe we're more likely to see this type of behavior in people who have memory lapses or other issues than in the general population.
You might see someone with blond hair but I see the hair as black; you see the shirt as green and I see it as blue. You hear the person yell and I can barely hear what they say. You perceive them as running and I see them as just walking.
Neither one of us is lying and we aren't even "wrong"; we simply didn't see exactly the same thing... I saw it from a different angle than you did or the light was different or we simply didn't perceive the same things to be the same.
I think it is possible for some people to change things in their memory... I know people who have gone through things with me in the past and when they tell about the incident now, they don't tell it anything like it really happened. Sometimes, they're simply stretching the truth but other times, they really believe they're telling it as it happened, but it was altogether different.
I do believe we're more likely to see this type of behavior in people who have memory lapses or other issues than in the general population.
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