Implanting Memories – Amelia Griggs

The psychology concept I’ve chosen to discuss today is the phenomenon of implanting memories, which leads to falsified memories. The concept of implanting memories, otherwise known as “suggestibility” in the textbook, is the idea that a person could create new memories based on things told to them, even if those memories never happened or aspects of them are false. Cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus addressed this concept in her experiment where she used certain language to describe a car crash and how the wording would impact the eyewitnesses memory of the crash (saying that cars “smashed” instead of “hit” for example). Another experiment done to test this concept was the “False memories of childhood experiences” study done by Ira Hyman and James Billings in the 90s. This experiment consisted of the researchers contacting the participants parents to receive four childhood memories of the participant, and confirmation that one event did not happen to the participant, so they would have 5 memories in total; 4 real, 1 fake. They then asked the participants if they remembered all 5 memories and to describe them. 2 days later, the participants would be asked about the memories again. The goal of this experiment was to measure how many people would claim they had a childhood memory of something, when the parents had said that it didn’t happen, and how that measurement would be impacted by time passing. It was found that, during the first interview, only around 2%/3% of participants claimed they remembered the false memory. However, around 30% of participants claimed they remembered the false memory during the second interview, only two days later. This experiment shows that, if you even suggest something happened to people, especially when grouped with other events that actually happened, there is a high possibility that the individual will be able to create a false memory of the event and then remember it as something that actually happened to them. Very fascinating!

I chose this concept because I often wonder how many of my memories are truly real, or how many of them contain false information. It was said in class that it’s more likely for us to remember traumatic events due to the emotional aspects of the event, and one of my earliest memories would be something that could be considered traumatic. My parents have told me the story so many times, so I’m not sure if my memories are real or based on what they’ve told me! When I was around 3 or 4, the side door to my house slammed on my hand and cut the tip of my pinkie finger off. I have very vivid memories of my mom carrying me into the house, and me sitting in the living room with my McDonalds cookie since we had just come home from there, my mom on the phone with my grandma asking her to come watch my siblings, and even me in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I can remember sitting in the hospital, but that’s around where my memory of the event ends (and who knows if that memory is even from that specific hospital trip). My mom has told me that I didn’t cry at all, and she was the one freaking out way more, so was this even an event that was highly emotional or traumatic for me? After learning more about implanted memories, I can’t help but wonder if I have just heard the story so many times, with my mom and my grandma providing different details on various occasions, that I can picture realistic scenes of the event in my head and that those pictures have been converted into being memories. So interesting, and it’s likely that some aspects of it are real, but I guess I’ll never know!