Have you ever felt like you were remembering an event that you never actually experienced?
False memory syndrome, also known as imaginary memory syndrome, refers to the mind’s (re)construction of events that never happened or were experienced differently than remembered. False memories are often vivid and detailed.
Elizabeth F. Loftus, an American cognitive psychologist known for her work in the field of memory, has conducted various studies on false memory syndrome. One of these was the car crash experiment conducted with John C. Palmer in 1974. The main aim of this study was to understand how leading (biased) questions could influence eyewitnesses’ recollection of events and how susceptible memory is to distortion.
Experiment 1
In this study involving 45 students, participants were shown seven different traffic accident videos (ranging from 5 to 30 seconds), and then given a questionnaire. First, they were asked to describe what they saw in the accident, and then the following question was asked:
“About how fast were the cars going when they _______ into each other?”
The blank was filled with one of the following verbs: smashed, collided, bumped, hit, contacted. The results were as follows:
| Verb | Mean Speed Estimate |
|---|---|
| Smashed | 40.5 mph |
| Collided | 39.3 mph |
| Bumped | 38.1 mph |
| Hit | 34.0 mph |
| Contacted | 31.8 mph |
As we can see from the results, the verb used in the question influenced the participants’ responses. For example, when the word “smashed” was used, which suggests a more violent impact, the average speed estimate was higher, while the word “contacted,” which implies minimal contact, led to lower speed estimates.
Experiment 2
The second experiment (The Broken Glass Manipulation) aimed to determine whether leading questions not only affected speed estimates but also genuinely altered the participants’ memory. In this experiment, 150 participants were divided into groups of different sizes. They watched a video of multiple car crashes lasting less than a minute, were asked to describe what they saw, and then answered a series of questions:
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50 participants were asked: “How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?”
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50 participants were asked: “How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?”
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50 participants were not asked any question about speed (control group)
A week later, without rewatching the video, the participants were asked a new set of questions. One of them was:
“Did you see any broken glass?” (There was no broken glass in the video.)
The results were as follows: The likelihood of participants in the “smashed” group reporting that they saw broken glass (32%) was significantly higher than that of those in the “hit” group (14%).
| Verb | “Yes” Responses | “No” Responses |
|---|---|---|
| Smashed | 16 | 34 |
| Hit | 7 | 43 |
| Control | 6 | 44 |
Research shows that memory is shaped by two types of information: the information acquired at the time of the event and the external information presented afterward (in this case, the leading questions). Over time, these two sources merge, and individuals can no longer distinguish where a detail came from. (Loftus & Palmer, 1974, p. 588)
Therapy, Suggestion, and Memory Distortion
In her TED talk titled “How reliable is your memory?”, Elizabeth Loftus shares additional examples of how our memory can be altered.
We’ve all heard stories of people who go to therapy for certain reasons (depression, eating disorders, etc.) but come out with memories of other traumas. In some psychotherapy approaches, the therapeutic process itself can lead to the reconstruction of memory (e.g., dream interpretation, hypnosis, memory recovery exercises, etc.). Naturally, this can slow down the patient’s recovery process.
Although it is considered ethically wrong for therapists to “plant memories” in their clients (regardless of whether the memory is good or bad), Loftus argues that parents might do so (she extends this claim based on children struggling with obesity).
For example, a mother of an overweight child might implant a false memory in the child’s mind for their own good, and this could help the child lose weight.
However, memory is much more fragile than we can imagine. If memory implantation is used by someone with malicious intent, that person can dominate someone else’s memory and mislead them. Let’s not forget that false memories can also shape future behavior.
References
Loftus, E. (2013, June). How reliable is your memory? [Video]. TED Conferences.
https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loftus_how_reliable_is_your_memory
Loftus, E. F., & Palmer, J. C. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13(5), 585–589. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(74)80011-3