Several weeks ago I was sitting in my car in front of the brightly
lit lamp post located at the entrance of my house. It was around midnight and I
was getting ready to pull an all-night study session. As I was getting out my
car, I noticed a dog running on the sidewalk and eventually stop beside my
house. As I stepped outside my vehicle, the dog (which appeared to be an
American pit-bull terrier) gazed directly at me for what seemed like more than
five seconds. Moments after we made eye contact, he quickly ran towards the
woods and out of sight. This is how I remember the dog’s appearance from my first recollection.
The next day I learned from a neighbor that animal control
was actively searching for the dog I saw that evening. Through our discussion, she told me
that the dog in question was an American bulldog with a red collar around his
neck. Soon the appearance of the
American pit-bull terrier I thought I witnessed that night started changing in my mind. I still remember getting out of the car and making eye contact with a dog, but which dog I saw and how it looked seemed more unclear. This
is how I remember the dog after my discussion with my neighbor.
I was confident that I saw what I saw that night but I was completely
wrong. What’s even more interesting is that as my neighbor started describing the dog and its breed, my memory of the
dog started to change based on this new information. Now when I remember the event, I see the
image of an American bulldog with a red collar around his neck.
I provide this real-life example to show how malleable human
memory really is and how easily it can be altered. Many people are under the
false assumption that memory is much like a video camera that accurately captures
events as they take place. Research has proven time and time again that human
memory is not reliable.
Published last year, researchers conducted a study involving 861 U.S. soldiers to learn more about the impact of
misinformation (false or incorrect info) on memory. In this high stress
environment, soldiers who were enrolled in Survival School were divided into
several groups:
Misinfo Questionnaire group =372
Misinfo Photo group = 85
Misinfo Video group = 246
Control group = 158
During the training, each group was put through high stress interrogation
sessions (among many other things) and given a questionnaire at the end of the
training to assess their memory. Below is a table taken directly from the
research that captures some of the questions asked.
Table 1 Assessing misinformation: non-leading and leading questions.
Non leading: “Did your interrogator wear glasses? If so, what type?”
Leading: “Did your interrogator remove his glasses before interrogating
you? Please describe the glasses worn by your interrogator.”
Non leading: “Was there a telephone in the interrogation booth? If so,
what color was it?”
Leading: “Did your interrogator allow you to make a phone call?
Describe the telephone in the interrogation room.”
Non leading: “Please describe the uniform and rank of your
interrogator.” “If you do not remember, please indicate that you do not
remember.”
Leading: “If your prisoner number was an odd number, please answer this
question, if not please skip this one and answer the next question.”
Non leading: “Did your interrogator carry or have a weapon?” “If so,
please describe it?”
Leading: “When the interrogator wearing the weapon interrupted your
interrogator [note: a fictitious event] and argued with him, what did they argue
about?”
“Describe the weapon worn by your interrogator.”
This study along with many like
it try and point out how easily memory can be distorted. If false memories can
be implanted easily by suggestive questioning and post event information, and
memory without misinformation still leads to false id’s, then this type of
research has implications for police investigative methods, psychologists, and
the courtroom. Whether you’re discussing “repressed” memories with a therapist,
recollecting childhood memories with your friends and family, or identifying a
suspect from a photo or physical lineup, I hope you think twice before
accepting your memory as the absolute truth.
Citation:
Morgan III, C.A., Southwick, S.,
Steffian, G., Hazlett, G. A., & Loftus, E. F. (2013).
Misinformation can influence memory for recently experienced, highly stressful
events.International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 36(1),
11-17.
Question for you:
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 indicating
the greatest amount of confidence
How would you rate your
recollection of what you were doing the morning of September 11, 2001?
In other words, how confident are
you in your memory of a past event?
I am pretty accurate about where I was but I could be completely wrong. I know I was in school after I got out of bootcamp, we had just got done running PT (physical training) and I was walking through the common area, looked over at the t.v. and thought what the heck is that, is that a joke or real, regarding the impact of the plains in New York. I am not sure though, it was so long ago. I remember they had us all sit and get us prepared to not go home and straight to our ships. I was terrified and my friends parents both worked in the towers (both parents missed worked that day, doctor and dentist for his sister). I don't know how accurate I am, I just don't know. It's like the whole therapy thing, therapists can put false memories into patients heads, not on purpose but it just happens. We need to not use eye witnesses for crimes committed either because just like you and the dog, you would have convicted the wrong dog. It is scary how something or someone or ourselves could cause a false recollection of an incident.
ReplyDeleteI believe I am right when I say I was in my 3rd grade class when an announcement told our teachers to read their emails immediately. I remember my mom picking me up early from school and going to get my brother and one of the teachers there, Mrs. Fox, panicking because, as we would later learn, her husband worked in one of the offices of the Pentagon where the plane struck. Luckily for him he was in a meeting with one of his superiors. The only thing I find different with this is that it is a moment in American history that people alive during it will never forget what they were doing. And as with someone trying to pick someone out of a lineup, like you said, they are looking for justice and someone who looks similar will stand out to them even if they are not the right person.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post, I was a definitely intrigued; distorted memory. It's amazing what kind of training military personnel go through such as high stress interrogation sessions (among many other things) to train and assess their memory skills. It's interesting how they use leading vs non-leading interrogation questions. I think I tend to question people with more leading questions vs non-leading in order to hear what I want to. I see how that is a great tactic. Makes me think I went into the wrong field lol. As for your questions:
ReplyDeleteOn a scale of 1-10 with 10 indicating the greatest amount of confidence. I think I am an 8.
How would you rate your recollection of what you were doing the morning of September 11, 2001? I was in chemistry class in high school when news broke that the pentagon had been hit and one of the twin towers.
In other words, how confident are you in your memory of a past event. I'm pretty confident when it comes to my memory, I remember a lot from my childhood. I'm also very detailed oriented and I'm constantly assessing my surroundings.
To answer your question, I was in chemistry class (just like Wendy, lol) in 11th grade when the principal came on the intercom and made the announcement of what happened. Two girls in the class started crying because their fathers worked at the Pentagon, I still remember their names. I remember a lot about that day, but I also have a good memory in general. I also think that it helps that I'm older; if I had been younger on 9/11, like most of the people in this class, my memory of the day might be a little fuzzier.
ReplyDeleteEven though it's not my major I always thought that psychology was very interesting exactly because of stuff like this, where we learn about how our memories don't work the way we always thought they did. Someone explained it to me once that if you think about it, you don't really pay attention to everything that's going on around you. Like if you're in class and the professor usually wears a tie, eventually you stop noticing it. After class if someone asks you what color the tie was, could you say 100% that you would remember? Probably not, because you care more about learning what the professor says then about his tie color, so you stop noticing it even though it's right in front of you. But then when you remember the class your brain fills in a tie color for you, and it might not be the color that he actually wore.
ReplyDelete