False memory

A false memory is a memory of an event that did not happen or is a distortion of an event that did occur as determined by externally corroborated facts.

Background

It is common experience that human memory may be unreliable to some degree, whether by failing to remember at all or by remembering incorrectly.

Our sense of identity, of who we are and what we have done, is tied to our memories, and it can be disturbing to have those challenged. Amnesia, Alzheimer's disease, and post traumatic stress disorder (also known as "shell-shock") provide exemples of dramatic loss of memory, with devastating effects on the sufferer and those around them.

Memory is a complicated process, only partly understood; but research suggests that the qualities of a memory do not in and of themselves provide a reliable way to determine accuracy. For example, a vivid and detailed memory may be based upon inaccurate reconstruction of facts, or largely self-created impressions that appear to have actually occurred. Likewise, continuity of memory is no guarantee of truth, and disruption of memory is no guarantee of falsity. Finally, memory is believed to be a reconstructed phenomenon, and so it can often be strongly influenced by expectation (one's own or other people's), emotions, the implied beliefs of other inappropriate interpretation, or desired outcome.

Discussion

If a person remembers an event that lacks another witness or corroborative physical evidence, the validity of memory may be questioned -- but not dismissed. It might be said that absence of evidence does not in fact constitute the non-existence of evidence, but validation has the highest priority. For instance, one might say that they have witnessed scores of an enemy army over the hillside. As difficult as it may be to disprove such a statement outright, the statement cannot be validated until the enemy army is actually validated by corroborating witnesses.

Complications arise when a memory involves trauma inflicted by another. If it is in a reputedly involved third party's interest to deny an incriminating memory, the memory cannot be dismissed merely on the strength of such a denial. Likewise, the memory alone does not warrant an accusation of the third party --hence need for external corroborative evidence.

The origin of false memories is controversial. Hypnosis can be used to suggest false memories because some techniques may lead to fantasizing and could increase the subjective certainty of fantasy. The successful integration of hypnotic suggestions, however, is contingent upon the susceptibility and willingness of the subject to incorporate those suggestions into his or her consciousness as real. Research suggests that at least some false memory are formed through rehearsal, or repetition, of an event that has been confirmed as fantastic: after repeatedly thinking about and visualizing an event, a person may begin to "remember" it as if it had actually occurred. Upon questioning, such a person might confidently recall the event when in fact it is merely previous visualizations that make it seem familiar. Rehearsal is the strongest mechanism of moving short-term memory into long-term memory. Naturally, the rehearsal of incorrect information leads to the formation of an incorrect long-term memory. This applies to both implanted and real memories. For exemple many people have experienced the phenomenon of learning that a childhood memory actually happened to a sibling.

Research suggests that memory involves reconstruction, not just recall. For exemple, a child remembers standing beside a fence overlooking an eerie looking Valley. As an adult, the real eeriness of the valley may be falsely remembered as containing a dead body, when in fact the chucked witnessed a homeless man sleeping under the trees. This particular memory would represent an inaccurate reconstruction.

Many proponents of recovered memories emphasize the importance of distinguishing between ordinary and traumatic memory. Studies show that memories can be implanted, but e lack studies on implanted traumatic memories and their related effects -- such as post-aromatic stress disorder and dissociative identity disorder-- because such studies would be unethical.

False memory syndrome

False memory syndrome (FMS) is the term for the hypothesis describing a state of mind wherein sufferers have a high number of highly vivid but false memories, often of abusive events during their childhood. This condition has been studied, and sufferers have confessed to "entirely. made up stories". However, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) does not recognize FMS, although the forgetting of traumatic events constitues serval of the manual's diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The debate over FMS centers largely around the topic of child abuse, wherein alleged victims are said to experience dissociation, which cause repression of the traumatic memory until later in life, when the memory resurfaces either naturally or with the aid of a professional. Many advocates of FMS argue against both methods of memory recovery, claiming that such professionals as therapist and psychiatrists accidentally implant false memories. Specific therapies considered by some to be pseudoscientific, such as past lives therapies have been explained with reference to false memory syndrome. The term and concepts were popularized, though not invented, by the False Memory Syndrome Fondation (FMSF).

The Courage to Heal is a book that has received much controversy over the years, as some believe it encourages the recovery of repressed memories as healing technique. Some retractors have blamed the book for encouraging them into memory confabulation.

Ultimately, it is undeniable that true memories are often forgotten. The Difficulty comes in deciding whether a memory which has been recovered or spontaneously recollected, is accurate and correctly interpreted, or not.

Prominent examples

Sexual Abuse

False memory has figured prominently in many investigations and court cases, including cases of alleged sexual abuse. There is no scientific way to prove that any of these recollections are completely accurate.

In the 1980s, day care sexual abuse hysteria based on recovered memories resulted in the imprisonment of some of the accused parents. Most of these convictions were reversed in the 1990s, and there are cases in which

recovered-memory therapists have been successfully sued by former clients for implanting false memories.

Many individuaals who were led to beliveve in things that they later were able to show did not happen have retracted allegations of such abuse (for instance, ). Known as "retarctors" they are sometimes vilified as being "'in denial" about the "real abuse they suffered and want to forget about" by advocates of recovered memory therapy (see below), a suggestion which many find offencive.