Studies in False Memories is changing the criminal justice system

The study of False Memories is changing the criminal justice system. This new research shows how innocent adult participants were convinced and confessed to committing crimes as serious as assault with a weapon. The percentages were high, 71% developed a false memory of the crime, 50% of those false memories were elaborate in detail and their exact dealings with the police. This is big news by recognizing the procedures that generate these false memories allows the development of new procedures that support putting only criminals away.

Some of the first studies on false memories were done by Ira Hyman and coworkers in 1995. This study was done with college students and tested their memory of childhood events. This study showed that 20% recalled some detail of this false memory. This ability to create false memories is made stronger by certain factors. One of these factors is Priming, as seen in Stephen Lindsay’s experiment in 2004 showing participants an early childhood photo doubled the false memory recall.

The participants of the study done at the University of British Columbia study were 60 students that had never been involved in any of the crimes designated as a target for false memory. Each of these students participated in three 40-minute interviews that were a week apart. Priming starts in the first interview where the researcher told the student about two events experienced as a teen and only 1 of the 2 were true. The incidents were either related to crime and contact with police or emotional and personal in nature. The false event also included details that were taken from a true experience.

In the 2nd and 3rd interviews researchers continued to asks the participants to recall details of the event. When the memories seemed difficult to produce the researchers used statements such as “It is normal not to remember traumatic experiences” and included statements such as “Your parents have informed us that you did the crime” By triggering an emotional response the participants were able to take on the memory as their own and give details for an experience that never happened. Here we see Errors Due to Suggestion that is heighten because of priming and emotion. We also see Errors Due to Familiarity, by including familiar pieces of true early events in their lives.

This research from the University of British Columbia clearly shows that Police interrogation techniques can create false memories and opens the door for wrong fully convicted criminals to be vindicated. This creates a space for change in a system that drastically can alter someone’s life. By showing that certain techniques are bad is the first step in preventing them from happening.

West, R. (2015, November 19). Police interrogation tactics can plant false memories, UBC study finds – British Columbia – CBC News. Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-study-finds-police-interrogation-techniques-can-create-false-memories-1.3326896

Goldstein, E. (2011). Everyday Memory and Memory Errors. In Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (3rd ed., pp. 225-233). Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Shaw, J., & Porter, S. (2015). Constructing Rich False Memories of Committing Crime. Psychological Science, 291-301. Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http://pss.sagepub.com/content/26/3/291.full.pdf

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