Do False Memories Exist

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Tutor’s name: Mr Moses Chew Unit Code: PSY141
Assignment No. or title: 4b
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Sherlyn 4th Oct 2012
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PSY141 – Introduction to Psychological Science
Assignment 4b – The development of false memories: Investigating the existence of false memories in the human mind
Mr Moses Chew
2th Nov 2012 – 11.00 Pm Abstract
False memories are defined as remembering details of a particular event but have never occurred to anyone.
To find out and proof that false memories exist, this essay have consolidated two study research methodologies which will be explained. The three major terms which will be discussed over here will be activation/monitoring theory, fuzzy-trace theory and source monitoring framework which explained why false memories occurred. On top of that, research methodologies have found out that false memories can occur to anybody from children to adults and adults with Alzheimer’s disease and also, they have found out that as one ages, the tendency to have false recalls increased with the age trend. It will be argued that false memories exist and revealing the truth behind false
memories.
(125 words)

The development of false memories: Investigating the existence of false memories in the human mind
The development of false memories: Investigating the existence of false memories in the human mind
The importance of finding the truth if false memories exist is important began when problems arise after patients have consulted therapies. It was then they found new formed childhood sexual abuse memories and went to court to sue their relatives when in fact, those memories did not exist nor remembered (Loftus, 1996). Reyna and Lloyd (1997) stated that false memories are remembering events and experiments which are different and has never occurred but was induced and convinced by another party. Roediger and McDermott (2000) also stated that false memories occurred depending on how one remembers and what are the conditions intervened when retrieving memory. False memories can occur basically for everyone from children to adults (Roediger, Watson, McDermott & Gallo, 2001; Brainerd & Reyna, 2002 & Howe, Gagnon & Thouas, 2008). Terms used to explain reasons for false memories research metholodologies include activation/monitoring theory, fuzzy-trace Theory (FTT) and source monitoring framework. (Reyna & Lloyd, 1997; Roediger, Watson, McDermott et al., 2001). Although, Pezdek and Lam argues that theories and methods used in research is wrong, evidence has proven that scientists are using correct methodologies (Wade, K. A., Sharman, S. J., Garry, M., Memon, A., Mazzoni, G., Merckelbach, H., & Loftus., E. F., 2007). Major points on the types of research methodologies used and terms used to describe false memories to prove that they exist will be discussed.
The first research methodologies used by Loftus (1996), Loftus and Pickrell (1995) is by 24 subjects who took part in a study where they were asked to remember the kind of things in their childhood memories. They were given four events where three is real and one which is the lost in the mall un- real. Then they will have to write the events in details to put “I do not remember this.” if they could not recall the event. After which, they will then go through two interviews.
The first interview happened after 1 to 2 weeks after receiving their results. Interviewers will ask the subjects to explain in detail about the events and to rate the clarity of the event where 1 been the least, 10 been the most clear. They are also to rate their confidence level from 1 to 5 where 1 is no confidence and 5 been very confidence, that if given more time to think, they may remember the details of the event. The second interview was conducted after 1 to 2 weeks. It is a repeat of the first interview and was told to rate their clarity and confidence. After debrief, subjects were told to guess which event may have been the false one.
Out of the 24 people, 19 subjects correctly chose the false events but 5 subjects thought that out of the true events, one was the false one. One of the subjects even described her getting-lost experience and gave this false memory clarity of 4. When she was told that this was a false memory, she could not believe and state that she totally remember the incident where there was an old lady who helped her when she was lost.
Another similar research conducted by Hyman, Husband and Billings (1995), also sent out questionnaires to parents regarding their childhood events. Similar to Loftus and Pickrell (1995) research, participants were to recall and described the experiences in the first interview. After which, a second interview is conducted and they were asked the same thing. At the end of the briefing, same thing were told to the participants.
From these findings, people can actually be induced to believe an event although is not true, will believe it once there are misleading information and suggestions are given repeatedly, and memories can also be altered. This in return, causes false memories to occur.
However, Pezdek and Lam (P & L) claimed that there are little researches who studied false memories as the term was originally intended from . P & L states that “memory for an entirely new event, that is, an event or a specific episode of an event that was never experienced by an individual I his or her lifetime, but nonetheless, came to reside in the individual’s memory” where this statement is out of nowhere. Also, this definition does not reflect how the term is used by many scientists in the cognitive literature. Hence, the argument to state that there are little researches who studied false memories is not valid. (_____)
The second research methodologies used is by Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. (Roediger & McDermott, 1995, 2000; Gallo, Roberts & Seamon, 1997; Bredart, 2000; McDermott & Watson, 2001; Roediger, Watson, McDermott & Gallo, 2001; & Brainerd, Forrest, Karibian & Reyna, 2006). All of these used similar methodologies in conducting the experiments. Lists with words by Roediger and Mcdermott were chosen to test and subjects were not told about the memory illusion. The order of the words shows to subjects and the time taken was constant and strong associates to the critical lure were shown first.
The results show was that many were many high recalls of words similar to the associate words which are not included in the lists. Subjects developed strong false recalls and make up close words similar to the list.
False memories can also occur in both adults and children and as one ages, the tendency to have false recalls increased. (Roediger, Watson, McDermott & Gallo, 2001; Brainerd & Reyna, 2002 & Howe, Gagnon & Thouas, 2008). In Howe, Gagnon and Thouas (2007) research, they have participants of different ages from the age of six, eight, twelve and twenty and used DRM method to conduct the research. Howe et al also states that all the words from the list were shown to the participants at three second rate. The results then show that there is an increasing trend in getting false recalls as one grows older. Roediger, Watson, McDermott and Gallo (2001) and Roediger and McDermott (2002) also states that older adults and older adults with Alzheimer’s disease recalled fewer list items that younger adults.
In an argument by P & L, it states that the term “memory flaws” should be used in DRM instead of “false memories” and state that Roediger and McDermott, 1995 have used misinformation when conducting their research. Their argument is definitely not correct. Looking into one of the situation, Ernie remembered taking a hot air balloon as child although he has not taken it before. This will be categorized under memory flaws but it is actually false memories. According to P & L, they state that false memories are memories of totally new events. However, false memories are rarely made up of entirely new details. False memories are often imagined and suggested information.
Activation/Monitoring Theory is used to explain the probability of false recalls and false recognitions in the DRM paradigm are during encoding and retrieval. Relational processing will increase the probability of false recall and false recognition for events that have never occurred. During encoding in DRM paradigm, the presenting of lists to subjects can create activation that spreads throughout the semantic system and create implicit associative responses. This activation may arouse concepts not presented in the list but are closely associated to the words presented. The more strongly associated list items are to critical items, the more activation would be expected to spread to the critical items. Also, the extent of words on the list spack the associative connection to the critical item, the more likely the critical item is to be falsely recalled which leads to false recalls occurring. Also, critical item has been strongly activated during encoding means that during retrieval, the subject is likely to retrieve the critical item as a list member and is true if the critical items come consciously to mind during encoding and rehearsed in the same manner as list items.
FTT is to find out how validity of solutions to reasoning problems like decision making, deductive inference and quantitative judgement are related to memory for background facts to determine which solutions are valid. There are five principals who implement a single representational distinction mainly verbatim and gist traces of experiences. During the experiment in DRM paradigm, it leaves two types of memory traces which are the gist traces and verbatim traces. Gist traces capture the meaning of experience but without specific attributes and verbatim traces represents specific attributes. False memories are attribute to gist processing. It means that when the meaning of recognition matches the gist of the encoded experience, false recognition occurs. The more the list items are associated to the critical item, the more a gist representation of the critical item is created.
There are five principles used to explain FTT (Brainerd and Reyna, 1998, 2002). The first principle is “Parallel Storage of Verbatim and Gist Traces”, followed by “Dissociated Retrieval of Verbatim and Gist Traces”, “Dual –Opponent Processess in False Memory”, “Developmental Variability” and lastly, “Verbatim and Gist Processing Both Cause Vivid Remembering”.
Another theory to explain the cause of false memory is the source monitoring framework (Reyna and Lloyd, 1997). Source monitoring framework describes how people differentiate memories in different sources. It provides an alternative conception of false-memory effects obtained using the standard misinformation task. Source monitoring decisions are thought to be based on retrieval of qualities of memories, and on the interpretation of what is retrieved.
In conclusion, false memories can occur to everyone. Given some arguments that state that the definitions of false memories are wrong and the methodologies used by DRM paradigm should be categorized as “memory flaws” instead of false memories, evidences were shown to proof that the arguments made are not correct. In contrast, false memories are not easy to determine if they are really false memories or true when are told by each individuals. Studies can only show and explain how false memories occur but are not able to proof that it is false memories when individuals claim that the memories are real. Hence, further investigation will have to be made to differentiate between true and false memories. Nevertheless, research methodologies and studies shown here have proof that false memories exist. References
Brainerd, C. J., & Reyna, V. F. (1998). Fuzzy-trace theory and children’s false memories. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 71(2), 81-129. doi:10.1006/jecp.1998.2464
Brainerd, C. J., & Reyna, V. F. (2002). Fuzzy-trace theory and false memory.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 164-169. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00192
Brainerd, C. J., Reyna, V. F., Forrest, T. J., & Karibian, D. (2006). Development of the false-memory illusion. Developmental Psychology, 42(5), 962-979. doi: 10.1037/0012—1649b.42.5.962
Bredart, S. (2000). When false memories do not occur: Not thinking of the lure or remembering that it was not heard? Memory, 8(2), 123-128. doi:10.1080/096582100387669
Gallo, D. A., Roberts, M. J., & Seamon, J. G. (1997). Remembering words not presented in lists: Can we avoid creating false memories? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4(2), 271-276. doi:10.3758/BF03209405
Howe, M. L., Gagnon, N., & Thouas, L. (2008). Development of false memories in bilingual children and adults. Journal of Memory and Language, 58(3), 669-681 doi:10.1016/j.jml.2007.09.001
Hyman, I. E., Husband, T. H., & Billings, F. J. (1995). False memories of childhood experiences. Applied cognitive psychology, 9(3), 181-197. doi:10.1002/acp.2350090302
Loftus, E. F. (1996). Memory distortion and false memory creation. Bull Am Acad
Psychiatry Law, 24(3), 281-295. Retrieved from http://www.jaapl.org/content/24/3/281.full.pdf
Loftus, E. F., & Pickrell, J. E. (1995). The formation of false memories.
Psychiatric Annals, 25, 720-725.
Retrieved from http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Papers/Py104/loftusmem1.pdf
McDermott, K. B., & Watson, J. M. (2001). The rise and fall of false recall: The impact of presentation duration. Journal of Memory and Language, 45(1), 160-176. doi:10.1006/jmla.2000.2771
Reyna, V. F. & Lloyd F. (1997). Theories of false memory in children and adults.
Learning and Individual Differences, 9(2), 95-123. doi:10.1016/S1041-6080(97)90002-9
Roediger H. L., & McDermott K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words nor presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, memory, and cognition, 21(4), 803-814. doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.803
Roediger, H. L., & McDermott K. B. (2000). Tricks of memory. Current directions in psychology science, 9(4), 123-127. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00075
Roediger, H. L., Watson J. M., McDermott K. B. & Gallo, D. A. (2001). Factors that determine false recall: A multiple regression analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8(3), 385-407. doi:10.3758/BF03196177
Wade, K. A., Sharman, S. J., Garry, M., Memon, A., Mazzoni, G., Merckelbach, H.,
& Loftus., E. F. (2007). False claims about false memory research. Consciousness and Cognition, 16(1), 18-28.
doi:10.1016/j.concog.2006.07.001

Marking Guide: Assignment 3 (Essay Components)

Student Name: Possible Grade Actual Grade
Abstract
The abstract is brief (no longer than 125 words).
Sentence describing general topic area.
Argument is specified.
Summary of the evidence supporting this argument.
Statement of conclusion and/or implication. 10
Title
Presented on a new page following abstract.
The title provides a brief description of the main topic or argument (max. 15 words). 5
Introductory Paragraph
The introductory paragraph contains approx 10% of essay.
Defines major terms (without presenting a dictionary).
Introduces the topic generally.
Highlights the importance (significance) of the topic.
Highlights the controversies (e.g., shows hidden complexity of topic).
Introduces the specific argument of the essay, without stating it as fact.
The overall plan of the essay and the issues that will be discussed are mentioned. 15
Body of Essay
Contains approximately 70% of the essay.
The information that is presented follows a logical order.
A sound and rational argument is provided.
The information is presented concisely and precisely (i.e., only relevant details are included).
Major theories and evidence are compared, contrasted, and evaluated.
Current opinion is presented and evaluated.
Differences in methodology (e.g., relating to procedure, samples, types of standardized tests) are considered in making arguments and/or in explaining conflicting theories and findings.
Recognition is made of complications with own arguments.
Flawed arguments (e.g., appeals to authority, appeals to ignorance, ad hominem arguments, appeals to emotion, misrepresentation of the opposition, overgeneralizations and false analogies) are avoided.
40
Conclusion
Contains about 10% of words.
Summarises major arguments.
Summarises evidence supporting these arguments
Acknowledges complications that challenge own arguments.
Summarises how these complications are resolved. 10
Referencing
In-text citations made appropriately and to APA format
Sources in reference list are appropriate and to APA format 10
Writing
Fluency/style (authoritative and objective)
Spelling grammar and paragraphing 10
Total /100