Transcript LOFTUS AND PICKRELL'S FORMATION OF FALSE MEMORIES

What did you learn about memory from
reviewing the PowerPoint? Write down
5 facts.
A demand characteristic is a subtle cue that makes
participants aware of what the experimenter
expects to find or how participants are expected to
behave.
Demand characteristics can change the outcome of
an experiment because participants will often alter
their behavior to conform to the experimenters
expectations.
How were demand characteristics an issue in this
research?
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False memories happen when post-event
information changes the original memory so
a person believes that the false information
really was part of the original event, even
though it never existed.
Loftus TED Talks
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This study is an extension of a study done
with a 14 year old boy, Chris, whom the
researchers did the exact procedure with.
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To discover whether it
is possible to implant
an entire false
memory for an event
that never happened.
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Method: Experiment with Self-Report
interviews
◦ Qualitative: personal details about these false
memories
◦ Quantitative: Percentages of recall, number of
word descriptions, clarity and confidence
ratings.
IV - The three stages of booklet completion,
Interview 1 and Interview 2
Note: the time interval between the three was abandoned
because of unavailability of the participants
DV1 – percentage of participants recalling true and
false events at all three stages
DV2 – ratings of clarity of memory, 1(not clear at
all) to 10 (extremely clear)
DV3 – ratings of confidence in ability to recall more
detail, 1 (not confident) to 5 (extremely confident)
Repeated Measures
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All participants completed all conditions of
the independent variable (booklet, Interview 1
and Interview 2)
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24 participants went to the lab with a close
family member (usually a parent or sibling)
◦ The ‘relative’ member had to be knowledgeable about
subjects from the person’s early childhood
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3 males, 21 females (ages 18-53)
Nobody in a pair was younger than 18
Sampling Technique?
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Opportunity Sample – participants were recruited
by University of Washington students
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Subjects were mailed a 5 page booklet with
instructions
◦ Contained 4 short stories of events that their
relative described of the subject’s childhood
◦ 3 were real (stories given by relative), 1 was fake
(about getting lost in a mall)
◦ False memory event was always the 3rd event
presented
◦ Each story was a paragraph with space below for
recording details of memories about the story
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All four stories were a paragraph long and
each false story appeared in third position in
the booklet
The ‘Lost in Mall’ false story was constructed
from an interview with a relative who
confirmed that the participant had not
actually been lost. All false stories included
the following true features: where the family
shopped; family members who usually went
shopping; shops that would attract interest
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The ‘Lost in Mall’ false story also included
lies:
◦ Lost for an extended period
◦ Crying
◦ Lost in the mall or large department store at around
the age of 5
◦ Found by an elderly woman
◦ Reunited with family
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Interviews were conducted with a close family
member of the subject
◦ Asked to determine events from the subjects
childhood between the ages of 4-6
◦ Also asked to provide information about a plausible
shopping trip that could have been taken when the
subject was about 5.
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The actual subjects were told they were
participating in a study about childhood
memories and why we remember some and
not others (Ethics?)
They read a booklet containing different
events & were told to write details down
about what they remember from the events.
If they did not remember an event, they
would write “I do not remember this.”
Once they finished the booklet, they mailed it
back to the researchers.
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One to two weeks later the subject was
interviewed either over the phone or at the
university.
◦ Asked to recall as many details from these childhood
events as possible.
◦ Rated their clarity and the content of the memory on a
scale of 1 to 10
◦ Rated their confidence that they could remember more
information if they were given more time on a scale of 1
to 5
Once finished, they were thanked an debriefed.
◦ They were asked to think about the memories, but not to
discuss them. They were not told of the deception
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Another session took place one to two weeks
later, that was essentially the same.
They were debriefed again
◦ Apologized to for the
deception & having
them try to guess the
false memory
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49 out of 72 (68%) of the true events were
remembered across the booklet, Interview 1
and Interview 2
7 out of 24 participants (29%) remembered
the false event but one participant, after
recalling the event, decided that she did not
remember
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The participants were more detailed
with the true memories (@138
words) than the false memories
(@50 words)
They were clearer &more confident
on the true memories than the false
19 of 24 (about 75%) of the
participants resisted the false
memory.
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False memories can be formed
◦ Researchers said that they don’t know what percentage
of people they can be formed in, but they did conclude
that it is possible
This may be because the false memory was made
believable.
◦ The elements were paired with elements that are
common to most people’s lives, like being in a mall,
crying & getting lost, which would make it easy to
mistake this false memory with another one that is real
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High level of control
◦ Some parts were conducted in a lab
◦ All of the variables were kept consistent for each
participant
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 False memory always the third
 False memory had the same content.
 Interviews always scheduled the same time apart from
each other
The real stories came from relative.
Both qualitative & quantitative data.
Verified the possibility of the participant
actually getting lost in a mall at the age of 5.
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Awkward task
◦ Had to write everything they remember about each
memory
◦ Interviews over telephone
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Ethical Issues
◦ Could cause psychological harm
◦ Deception - Made people believe in a memory that
wasn’t true
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Sample/Sampling Technique
◦ Sample bias: All the participants will have known
a Washington University student, so may have
other important characteristics in common
making them less representative
◦ Gender bias: because more females (and findings
may not generalize to males)
◦ Demand characteristics: All the participants will
have known a psychology student, this might
have made them more suspicious about the
experiment.
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Low?
◦ Awkward task could have mislead participants.
◦ Relative may not accurately remember something
from so long ago.
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High?
◦ The people were discussing actual memories
Real World
Ecological
Validity
Experiment
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useful because allows police/courts to
recognize that witnesses may have false
memories, because people may make false
accusations
not useful because in the wrong hands such
knowledge could provide a way to brainwash
people, because it is only based on simple
scenarios and real life has many more cues to
the truth
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What is a false memory?
Where people remember events that never actually
happened
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How does a false memory happen?
A false memory happens when post event
information changes the original memory, so the
person believes that the false information really was
part of the original event even though it never existed
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Identify the three dependent variables,
including rating scales.
DV1 – percentage of participants recalling true and
false events at all three stages
DV2 – ratings of clarity of memory, 1(not clear at all)
to 10 (extremely clear)
DV3 – ratings of confidence in ability to recall more
detail, 1 (not confident) to 5 (extremely confident)
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Identify the three stages of the procedure,
briefly outlining what happened at each
stage.
◦ Participants are sent a booklet and fill in any
memories they have about each of the four events
listed.
◦ Interview 1: conducted at the university (or by
telephone) 1-2 weeks after completion of the
booklet, recalling each event in as much detail as
possible
◦ Interview 2: conducted at the university (or by
phone) 1-2 weeks after Interview 1, again recalling
each event in as much detail as possible
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Identify two evaluation issues. Explain.
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Research the self-report method. Make note
of the key characteristics of this research
method.
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Myers, D. (2010). Psychology, 9th Edition.
New York, NY: Worth Publishers