False memory which is also known as illusory memory. A false memory is a memory of an event which never took place. Memory is not a recording of what happened. Memory is extremely moldable and malleable. Things change as you remember them, change as you think about them, and change as others make you think about them. Elizabeth Loftus has done several studies in false memories, and we will explore two of them here:
One simple methods of implanting a memory is expectation. If you expect to remember something then you will remember it.
• Participants in a study watched a video of a car driving through countryside.
• Experimenter asks what color the barn was in the background. The participants say red.
• What color are typical barns? Red
One simple methods of implanting a memory is expectation. If you expect to remember something then you will remember it.
• Participants in a study watched a video of a car driving through countryside.
• Experimenter asks what color the barn was in the background. The participants say red.
• What color are typical barns? Red