Brain Doesn't Always Spot False Memories
Human Brain Not Wired to Remember With 100% Accuracy
Feb. 2, 2005 -- Memory isn't perfect, even for the sharpest minds, and new insights are revealing memory's flaws.
A test of true and false memories indicates that the brain doesn't always spot misinformation. It's the sort of news that makes criminal lawyers sit up and take notice.
But memory's ebb and flow isn't just a matter for the courts. You've probably experienced it in your own life.
"For example, you may have a memory of witnessing an important event such as your wedding day, or the birth of a child," write Johns Hopkins University researchers Yoko Okado and Craig Stark, PhD, in February's Learning & Memory. "You feel you remember these events, but the memories are most likely distorted to some degree."
Those memory-storing glitches may not be huge. You might even swear they don't exist, but if you could time travel to check the facts, you might find some details don't match your memory.
It's normal for memories to fade a bit around the edges, especially over time. People just aren't wired for total recall with 100% accuracy.
Okado and Stark recently studied true and false memories. They showed eight vignettes to 20 people aged 18 to 34.
Each vignette unfolded in a series of 50 slides. After a short break, participants watched the vignettes again. They didn't know it, but 12 slides were slightly different in the second viewing. For instance, one vignette showed a man stealing a woman's wallet and hiding behind a tree. In another version, he hid behind a car.
While watching the vignettes, participants' brains were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The scans showed active brain areas.
Two days later, participants were quizzed about what they recalled and the source of those memories -- the original presentation, the second presentation, or both.
Misinformation was scored as a false memory if the participants recalled an item as being presented in either slide show.
Participants endorsed misinformation in 47% of the questions. In 27% of those cases, they said they'd seen the detail in the vignette's first (true) version. They attributed the other 20% to both vignette versions.
Brain Doesn't Always Spot False Memories
Human Brain Not Wired to Remember With 100% Accuracy
Feb. 2, 2005 -- Memory isn't perfect, even for the sharpest minds, and new insights are revealing memory's flaws.
A test of true and false memories indicates that the brain doesn't always spot misinformation. It's the sort of news that makes criminal lawyers sit up and take notice.
But memory's ebb and flow isn't just a matter for the courts. You've probably experienced it in your own life.
"For example, you may have a memory of witnessing an important event such as your wedding day, or the birth of a child," write Johns Hopkins University researchers Yoko Okado and Craig Stark, PhD, in February's Learning & Memory. "You feel you remember these events, but the memories are most likely distorted to some degree."
Those memory-storing glitches may not be huge. You might even swear they don't exist, but if you could time travel to check the facts, you might find some details don't match your memory.
It's normal for memories to fade a bit around the edges, especially over time. People just aren't wired for total recall with 100% accuracy.
Truth vs. Lies
Okado and Stark recently studied true and false memories. They showed eight vignettes to 20 people aged 18 to 34.
Each vignette unfolded in a series of 50 slides. After a short break, participants watched the vignettes again. They didn't know it, but 12 slides were slightly different in the second viewing. For instance, one vignette showed a man stealing a woman's wallet and hiding behind a tree. In another version, he hid behind a car.
While watching the vignettes, participants' brains were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The scans showed active brain areas.
Two days later, participants were quizzed about what they recalled and the source of those memories -- the original presentation, the second presentation, or both.
Misinformation was scored as a false memory if the participants recalled an item as being presented in either slide show.
Participants endorsed misinformation in 47% of the questions. In 27% of those cases, they said they'd seen the detail in the vignette's first (true) version. They attributed the other 20% to both vignette versions.