False Memories

Memory – Memory in a Forensic Setting

In this course, Dr Evelyn Svingen (University of Birmingham) explores memory in a forensic setting. In the first lecture, we think about false memories. In the second lecture, we think about the potential myth of repressed memories. Next, we think about the unreliability of eye witness testimony. In the fourth and final lecture, we think about the problems with and ways to improve police line-ups.

False Memories

In this lecture, we think about false memories, focusing in particular on: (i) the analogy that memory is more like a Wikipedia page than a recording device; (ii) the reconstructive nature of memory ‘shedding’ details as an evolutionary function to allow for decision making and avoid being overwhelmed with information; (iii) anecdotal and research examples of implanting false memories; (iv) Loftus and Palmer’s research into the effects of leading questions and vocabulary on memory; (v) research on the successful implanting of false memories of both plausible and implausible events; (vi) the fact that it is possible to acquire Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from a memory of an event that never happened; (vii) Elizabeth Loftus as a central figure in the research on false memories.